More than Machines
by LyraPendragon13
Summary: It's a shameless retelling of Voltron centered on Shiro and his bond with the Black Lion. What if all the Lions became more than just machines? (There will be descriptions of injuries. Blood!)
1. 1 Pre Assembly Maintenance

I admit. This is a shameless fix it fic, with a few cool plot twists thrown in. Maybe Shiro will even get a well deserved break.

I do not own Voltron, I just watch it on Netflix.

Enjoy!

More than Machines

Chapter 1: Pre Assembly Maintenance

 _The whole_ _scene was in shades of red. Bloody light glinted off cruel needles and malicious knives waiting to pierce and slice his flesh. They were doing something to him. He had no idea what it was, he had no idea if it was going to be yet another thing he'd have to learn to live with. They had already taken one arm, what else could they possibly want from him?_

 _Suddenly Haggar was there, her glowing yellow eyes piercing his soul._

" _Champion," she said. "Your use of that arm has exceeded our expectations. Think of what you could do with two of them!"_

" _What?!" he exclaimed. "NO! You can't!"_

" _What ever gave you the idea that you had a choice?" she asked, eyes narrowing to angry slits._

 _A rotating, screaming surgical saw descended on his perfectly healthy left shoulder. It bit into his skin and then the muscle and sinew beneath and he could not hold back his scream. The blade carved away more of his flesh, more of what made him Shiro._

 _The blade hit bone, and his world went white._

Shiro sat up so fast his world spun. It was dark suddenly, and the world made no sense. How was he back in his cell? Why was it so warm? Why was he falling? He hit the ground on his face with his flesh arm folded beneath him relieving some of the force of that impact. His legs were bound by something and he kicked frantically until they came free with a ripping noise.

Shiro pushed himself shakily to his feet and tested the door. It opened. His pulse surged with hope and he stumbled into the unlit hall, breath coming in uneven gasps. He had no idea where he was going, all he knew was that he needed to get away, to hide, to feel safe. His journey took him into a large hangar that he dimly began to recognize. Then he saw the Black Lion and a thrill of shock went through him. What was the Black Lion doing on a Galra war cruiser?

He ran, stumbling, to his lion and she lowered her head to great him, taking him into her mouth. The feeling of safety that washed over him almost drew a harsh sob of relief, but he could not rest yet. There was still the small matter of escaping the warship and getting back to the Castle of Lions. He strode purposefully up to the controls, and sat down, then froze.

Out the front view screen, lights dimmed peacefully for the night, was the largest hangar bay… in the Castle of Lions.

Shiro blinked a few times. Wasn't he just on a Galra warship? He looked down at his hands and noticed something crucial. Lifting his left hand, he turned it back and forth before his eyes, discovering that it was still flesh and bone. He still had both his arms. It had been a dream.

With a deep sigh of relief and aggravation, he let his face fall into the palms of his hands, both flesh and not. It was with a heavy feeling of dread and creeping fear that he finally admitted to himself that the dreams were getting worse, and, oh, let's not leave out the flashbacks, and the moments of frozen mindless panic.

How was he supposed to lead Voltron like this? How could he save Earth from the Galra if he couldn't even save himself?

He couldn't think about this. Not right now. Peeking out from between his fingers, he looked again at the darkened hangar. What now? He didn't really want to go back to his quarters after all that. He already felt silly enough.

Shiro let himself slide out of the chair and under the console with all the flight controls, and just as he was firmly on the floor, he heard a low rumbling purr.

 _Stay? Rest, sleep, stay?_

Shiro glanced around at the inside of his lion in awe, and he reached out a hand to touch the nearby wall.

"Are you inviting me to sleep in here?" he asked.

Another rumbling purr was answer enough.

Shiro gave a quiet brief chuckle, touched by the offer. "I don't know if I'll be able to sleep," he confided.

Black rumbled again and he felt an odd sort of pull. There was nothing physical about it, and he could definitely tell that it was the lion's doing. What did she want? The pull became a little more insistent and he could feel something inside himself start to give, so he took a deep breath and let go. Black's warm presence filled him, mind, heart, and soul, and he gasped. It was like she'd draped a warm blanket around his shoulders.

This was the very first time since waking up on Earth, with only a fuzzy idea that he'd escaped, that he actually felt safe. Relief and peace washed over him in warm waves, and black's low rumbling purr was a reassuring constant. Shiro did not remember lying down, or falling asleep.

 _Shiro could feel the restraints tightening across his chest, and he knew he was starting to hyperventilate. They had even muzzled him again, and the sharp edge was digging into the bridge of his nose. It hurt! Everything hurt! He could feel every wound he'd ever taken since they'd captured him. Every stab, cut and whip mark, every burn both from heat or acid was on fire. The cut down his chest from where they had... Were they going to cut him open again? What were they going to do to him?_

 _A cylinder full of a bubbling acid green liquid caught his eye to his left. There was already a needle in his arm with a line to that alien substance. He watched the liquid travel slowly down the tube, towards the needle in his arm._

 _His eyes widened in fear, as his heart tried to beat its way out of his chest. The poison was just about to enter his bloodstream when he heard a ferocious roar. It shook the whole room. The ceiling above him was torn away suddenly, revealing the Black Lion, eyes glowing with golden light._

 _She reached in with her head and smashed the device next to him. The needle was yanked from his arm, but somehow it didn't hurt._

 _Shiro cried, tears of relief flowing down his face and stinging the cut._

 _Black purred and more of the room vanished. She reached for him next, taking the whole exam table into her mouth. She bit down on it and broke it off with a horrific screech of metal, and he was safe, sealed inside her mouth._

 _Shiro still couldn't move. He was still bound, but black had him and she was carrying him far away from that awful place._

 _She finally set him down, and Shiro looked around in wonder. They were in a field of stars. Everything seemed to glow with its own inner light._

 _There was just one small problem, he was still stuck to the table, which was on its side, leaving him hanging from the restraints. Black seemed to consider the problem. She lowered her head onto her front paws, metal but still up in the air, tail waving behind her in annoyance._

 _Shiro gave her a wry smile underneath the muzzle. "You're too big," he thought gently. "If only you could take the shape of one of our lions back on earth."_

 _He could just imagine her. A night black she lion with flashing gold eyes, proud and fierce._

 _Her eyes brightened in response, and suddenly her form glowed and shifted like liquid, growing smaller and smaller. Then suddenly, standing before him was the very lion he'd just pictured. He was stunned._

 _Her intense gaze studied the restraints for a bit, and then she stepped forward and carefully gathered one of the bands in her mouth. He could feel her hot breath on his chest, straight through the prison uniform. She braced her paws and gave an almighty tug. The band gave with a snap, freeing his arms. He took off the muzzle first, destroying it._

" _Thank you," Shiro said, reaching out a hand and rubbing the top of her head._

 _He freed himself the rest of the way, falling from the table. Hitting the ground aggravated all his burning wounds, but black was right there to comfort him. Her whole body vibrated with that deep, thrumming, purr. She stood over him, sheltering his battered body with her four strong legs. The lion surprised him when she lowered her head and nosed his shirt up, exposing bleeding wounds._

" _I'm alright," Shiro told her when she gave an angry growl, but she ignored him, and her pink tongue flickered out and gave a gentle lick at a burn on his chest. It was the first wound he'd received in the ring._

 _Shiro gasped at the unexpected liquid warmth that touched his body. He froze at the sensation, and he couldn't decide whether it hurt or not. Black licked him again, her pink tongue swiping over the wound with a gentle heat._

 _This should hurt, Shiro thought, and tried to push himself away but, his arms were too weak. In fact, it was a struggle just to keep his eyes open._

 _Black gave a reassuring purr, switching briefly to lick the cut on the bridge of his nose and cheekbones. The pain was snuffed out. She went back to his stomach and started at the base of the long incision up his chest, replacing pain with warmth with every swipe of her tongue._

 _Shiro could only lay there and watch as she tended to his every hurt, giving him the loving tenderness he'd craved for so long. Hot tears flooded his eyes as he began to cry, and he finally let loose his grief over what happened to him, but they were also tears of relief. He surrendered and lay there, letting the black lion lick his wounds, and take away the pain._


	2. 2 Some Assembly Required

I do not own Voltron

Happy reading! And please review! I love hearing (or reading) your thoughts!

Some Assembly Required

Shiro woke up slowly, feeling stiff and sore, but safe. The pilot seat in the Black Lion's cockpit was the first thing that greeted his eyes that morning. He sat up, narrowly avoiding conking his head on the flight console above him. The skin around his eyes felt oddly stiff and he remembered that he had been crying in his sleep.

"That really was you last night," Shiro said, putting a soft hand on the floor.

The black lion's rumbling purr answered with no delay.

 _Day, sun, morning. Rested?_

"Thanks to you, yes," Shiro said appreciatively. "And yes, good morning."

 _Run, fly, hunt?_

Shiro smiled at the lion's ebullient excitement over the prospect of going outside.

"Hopefully," Shiro said. "There are a few things I need to take care of first though. I think I need to go make sure I didn't destroy my quarters."

He could feel the lion sulking at him. _Too big._

"I know," Shiro said. "I promise we'll do something together today. Coran probably has something in mind for us anyway."

His room wasn't nearly as destroyed as he thought it would be. The bed was a mess, and he had managed to kick a hole in the top sheet, but the blankets had survived. It wasn't actually that bad of a clean up, and it wasn't long before he started his actual morning routine. He decided to wear the paladin armor while he exercised to familiarize himself with the way it moved. He was just finishing the last set of push ups when the castle alarm went off.

Allura's voice was broadcasted over the ship's internal communications. "Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The Castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can't survive much longer!"

Something about this rang false, but Shiro hurried up to the bridge anyway. He got there just in time to see Coran wrestle the microphone away from her.

"You've got to sell it a little bit more," he said, and launched into fake grief over Allura's dying severed head.

Shiro knew he was the only one who passed this test, but he stood by his team for the lecture.

"I guess this isn't an actual attack," he said, testing the waters for the rest of his team. Just how much trouble was Allura going to decide they were in?

"And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you... Coran?" she asked, looking rather cross.

"Seventy-five degrees," the other altean reported, then stopped and looked again at the device he was holding, then tossed it over his shoulder. "Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer."

Allura looked just about ready to go postal on everyone there. "However long it was," she said going into full tirade mode. "It was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?"

It was actually at that very moment when in walked the unfortunate blue paladin looking pampered, rested and fresh as a daisy. At least he was fully dressed.

He gave a pleasant yawn and stretched. "Good morning everybody," he said. "What's going on?"

Allura's expression went positively sour. "Coran and I have been up for _hours_ getting the Castle back in order," she said, bringing up the console to look at a few things. "We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well." Her frosty gaze narrowed in on them. "Guess which one failed."

Shiro almost stepped in and asked her to give them a break. They were only barely more than children, especially Katie. He bit it back with some reluctance. These kids were in a position where they needed to grow up now, or die. It wasn't fair, and he hated to ask it of them, but they were here now, and there was only one way forward. Shiro let Allura set the tone.

"Hey!" Hunk protested, sounding hurt and overwhelmed. "You got to sleep for ten thousand years, man! Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle! That's a lot to process in, uh... I-I don't know. What day is today?"

"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement," Coran said, brightly. "Hump day!"

Did that mean Wednesday? Shiro asked himself. Did it even matter? He never had enough time to find out what season Earth was in last time he was there, let alone what the precise date was.

Hunk didn't seem to understand Coran's explanation. "It's a lot to process," he fussed.

Allura's expression softened a little, and she sighed. With a wave of her hand the room dimmed and she opened up what could only have been a starmap. It looked like the alteans had perfected three dimensional projections, _and_ they were interactive. Pidge was drooling.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura said a little more patiently. "Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations."

Countless numbers of the white stars on the map turned red, giving them a good idea of the vastness of Zarkon's empire. There was only a small sliver of stars left that had gone untouched.

"So," Allura continued grimly. "We have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe. Earth is here." She indicated a star on the very edge of Galra controlled space. "An attack on your planet is inevitable."

They were in our solar system. Shiro thought grimly of the Kerberos mission. He knew better than anyone what that meant, and Earth was laughably out gunned, outnumbered, and outmatched.

"Oh, no," Hunk breathed.

Judging by all the shocked and worried expressions Shiro was seeing, it looked like the others were beginning to understand the urgency of the situation. The fight had just become personal.

"Exactly," Allura said grimly. She indicated the swath of red stars. "Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon."

"The Princess is right," Shiro said, wanting to present a unified front with the alteans. "Let's get to our lions and start training."

"Wait!" Pidge protested and tried to run off, but Coran caught her by the collar of her shirt. She hung there pouting. "But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship!"

"Ah, negative, Number Five!" Coran said placing her back on her feet. He bent sideways and measured her with his two arms and drew attention to her lack of height. "I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right," Allura said with an air of finality. "Now get to your lions!"

The rest of the day was a blur of frustrations and disappointment, when they could not form Voltron on their own. Allura setting the castle on them hadn't been a lick of help. The only bright spot to his day was the black lion. She had greeted him with affection and excitement, and happily responded to whatever directions he gave to her.

At first, dodging the castle's laser fire had been a challenge, but it forced him to learn the controls and trust his lion and his own intuition. It pretty quickly turned into a game. Pilot and Lion were still out a field long after the shooting stopped (partially because they hadn't noticed.) They were just having too much fun.

The black lion had the punch of a battlecruiser with the maneuverability of a corvette. That, and it was just a lovely day on the planet Arus. It was… a lot like Earth, but without the people trying to strap him down to another table.

They hadn't listened to a word he'd said. It was like he'd lost his humanity in their eyes. Living proof that Earth was not alone in the galaxy, one trying to warn them of an imminent threat, and they were more interested in studying the messenger. He'd escaped from one set of restraints only to find more… _at home!_ Was humanity any better than the galra?

Shiro shivered as all feeling of safety fled, and he started to curl into himself. He nearly screamed when black roared. He realized with a start that they were no longer moving. The castle was nowhere in sight and black had roared at nothing… or maybe at him. There was an insistent pull in the back of his mind and he realized the lion had probably been trying to get his attention for some time.

That was probably a panic attack, Shiro thought, letting black in. Last time he did this it had felt like a burst of warm air after freezing winter. This time it was much stronger, love and reassurance pouring into his soul like warm liquid, filling him up, slowing his heart and easing the pressure in his lungs. The lion purred, encouraging him to just be still for a bit.

"Thank you black," Shiro said, unconsciously rubbing the console. "You keep saving me."

It was with a pang of regret that she reminded him, _castle, paladins lions, Voltron._

Shiro sighed. "You're right, where's the castle?"

Black turned without prompting, pointing him in the right direction. The castle was quiet when they approached, the shields down, and Shiro could only guess that the other paladins had gone back inside.

Shiro found them in what seemed to be a lounge all heaped in various positions over the odd furniture, like a box of exhausted kittens. They looked discouraged, like they'd just received another earful from Allura. He felt a note of annoyance at the Princess. They were his team, he would train them his way, but first, he had to get them out of her path.

"What are you guys doing in here?" Shiro asked. "We're not taking a break."

"Shiro's right," Allura said, and Shiro mentally cringed, he didn't want them resenting him too. "You should be training."

"We've been training," Hunk whined. "When are we going back to Earth?"

"I'm not going back until I find my family," Pidge snapped, gold colored eyes flashing with anger.

There was only one problem with those two things, but it seemed pretty insurmountable at the moment.

"Guys," Shiro said, trying to keep his tone both firm and gentle. "There won't _be_ an Earth if we don't figure out how to fight Zarkon."

"How are we going to fight!?" Lance exclaimed, frustrated but willing. "We can't even figure out how to form Voltron."

"Well, I'm not surprised," Coran said, thoughtfully tugging one side of his ginger mustache. "You know, the original paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears."

"Wow," Lance said flatly with a furtive glance at Keith. "Yeah, that's definitely not us."

Still, Coran was onto something. How many of these kids actually knew each other? He knew Keith, but he'd been gone for… a while. Matt had talked about his little sister like any doting big brother, but he'd never actually met Katie in person before all this. Lance and Hunk were kind of an unknown, though the two seemed to know each other. And of course there was that rivalry thing going on between Lance and Keith.

"During the last attack," Coran said breaking him from his thoughts. "Your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck!"

Hunk looked absolutely horrified. "There's a training deck?" he asked apprehensively.

They were subjected to a number of interesting exercises and scenarios, and just as they were all starting to get the hang of one, Coran would switch it up with a different one. Fuses were getting short, mistakes were coming more often and compounding.

It was a definite relief when they were all sent back out to their lions and directed to fly high. Shiro connected to black right away this time, and let her ease the ball of stress forming between his shoulder blades. He was just beginning to really enjoy the flight when Coran gave them their next exercise.

"You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his lion," Coran announced.

A bonding exercise? Shiro thought. With black? Bring it on!

Black rumbled back a happy purr in response.

"No problem!" Lance said confidently. "Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real."

"Perfect!" Coran shouted. "Then you won't have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your lions into a nosedive!"

Shiro pointed black at the ground, loving the rush of weightlessness in the change of g-forces. He almost missed Coran's next statement.

"This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go. Activating training helmets!"

And the world went dark. Shiro felt a spike of panic at the thought of flying blind, but black was right there, telling him that she could still see just fine.

"I trust you," he said quietly, and let go.

The darkness melted away, and he saw the world as his lion did.

He only barely heard Coran's next set of instructions.

"You must learn to see through your lions' eyes," Coran said. "The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lion feels!"

Oh, well mission accomplished then, Shiro thought as he explored this new avenue of their bond. The rest of the world was lost to him until he gently set black down in the canyon. The lion gently disengaged that particular link, leaving him blinking at the inside viewscreen, no longer blacked out by the helmet.

Shiro suddenly laughed quietly. "I really can pilot you blindfolded," he told her.

After Katie nearly had a breakdown in the exercise with all that mental visualization, Shiro was starting to come to his own limits, and agreed that maybe a break was a good idea. Teams were difficult to form when certain members had secrets to keep. Katie's was pretty glaringly obvious, at least to him, but his? There was stuff these children simply shouldn't know about him… ever… especially Keith.

If he could help it, none of them would ever know the kind of suffering he had faced at the hands of his tormentors. They would not even have knowledge of it, which meant that none of them would hear the full story of what happened to him. It was kind of a relief that a lot of the details were still gone.

Coran was nice enough to set them up with drinks, but Shiro just wasn't sure about it. The liquid was clear, so it could have been water, but… Too many times food and drink offered to him either made him really sick… or… NO. He couldn't go down this line of thought.

Then Allura happened upon them again.

"What are you doing lying around?" she demanded, and Shiro just about rolled his eyes.

He knew she came from a royal background, but there was only so much snobbery he could put up with before his respect started to deteriorate. He took a sip of the liquid Coran had given him out of spite and was slightly disappointed, now, to find it was just water.

"You're supposed to be training!" Allura scolded them.

"Just resting a bit," Coran said, holding his ground. Apparently even he was on their side now. "You know, you can't push too hard."

"What do you mean, 'can't push too hard?'" Allura scoffed. "Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you faced the Gladiator!"

Shiro's heart dropped into the soles of his feet. Gladiator?

It did indeed turn out to be a fight, but it helped that he'd have the four other paladins with him. He just wished he hadn't had to drop his active bond with black for one of the other exercises. There was no time to go to her and reestablish it.

I'm not alone. I'm not alone, he repeated to himself. This will be just fine. We'll smash it into pieces just fine. They've all had some CQC training at the garrison, and Keith's pretty good. We'll be fine.

The bot went at him jumping high to bring its bow staff down on his head. His already overwrought nerves screamed, and suddenly he was back on that galra ship, tossed into a cage match like an unwilling dog in a pit fight. He only came out of it after the bot had landed a knockout hit.

After that episode, he felt disconnected from the world, and he found himself wondering what was real. Could he really be here, with a group of overwhelmed kids, who really needed a break? Or was this a concoction of his mind in an effort to stay sane? Had he actually escaped at all, or would he wake up soon, strapped to a table, with Haggar's yellow eyes burning into him?

Was he imagining the concerned looks Keith kept shooting him? He can't know.

He didn't know how the food fight started, just that it felt really good to slop green muck at the uppity girl who'd done nothing but crush them under her heel all day. It felt good when the slim hit his own face, because it was wet, vaguely warm, smelly and _real._ When the others started laughing, he laughed too, because it meant he was really here and not imagining it.

Allura dropped the dominatrix facade she'd been wearing, and gave them all a job well done.

They formed Voltron with no problem after that, and then they were in further agreement when they all decided it was bedtime. Voltron split into the component lions once more as they headed back for the castle, finally giving Shiro the chance to dive head first into black's gentle embrace.

He didn't remember piloting her into the hangar, but he sat there for a long time, basking in the sense of safety she provided for him. Unfortunately, it was getting late and he was tired. Actually, just tired would have been a nice change. His… arm hurt, the world was looking weirdly grey, and it felt like he was getting fever chills, the ones that were somehow too hot and cold at the same time.

Black rumbled comfortingly. _Sleep here?_

"Again?" Shiro said, smiling at the offer. It was more than a little tempting.

 _Sleep here._

It wasn't an offer this time.

"Okay," Shiro said feeling slightly relieved to have the decision made for him, but then he remembered how sore he'd been that morning. "Just one condition. I want my mattress."

 _Go._

The mattress was comfortingly similar to what Earth had, and it was pretty light. Shiro turned the thing on its side and dragged it to the hangar bay with no problems. There was actually a heart stopping moment when he almost ran into a sleep walking Hunk, but the rest of the castle was thankfully quiet, the lights dimming down for the night.

The Black Lion did her best to help him with the mattress when he got to the hangar. She actually stood up, grabbed it from him and tossed her head back, looking very much like a predator eating its prey. From there, it was a simple matter of situating the bedding to his liking. Shiro changed into the loose clothes that were currently serving as his pajamas and crawled into bed.

Black lulled him to sleep.

 _It was dark at first, and he felt lost and afraid. It hurt to stand and he felt sick. It wasn't long ago that a druid had been elbow deep in his chest, ribs splayed open to give them room to play with his organs, his heart._

 _He clutched at his chest. It was hard to breathe._

 _He heard movement ahead of him and startled, lifting his head to look._

 _There were two pinpricks of golden light staring back at him. Shiro blinked. He knew those eyes somehow._

" _Black?" he asked._

 _The darkness seemed to lift, and the black lioness padded softly up to him, her golden eyes trained on his own silver ones. Her mouth was open, displaying a hint of sharp white teeth, but her golden eyes were wide open, and… well she just looked concerned somehow, like she was worried about him. Shiro fell to his knees, throwing his arms around her neck, feeling weak with relief. She was here. He was safe._

 _The lion lifted a paw, a bit awkwardly and curled it gently around him in her own form of a hug. It kinda stung the whip marks on his back a little, but that was nothing to the comfort she was giving him. After a bit she started to nudge him gently._

 _Ride up back. Away._

" _You want to carry me?" Shiro asked looking hopefully up at her._

 _Yes._

 _She had to help him up. His body was shaking with exhaustion, and he couldn't do it on his own. He barely held back his own tears of frustration at his weakness._

 _She carried him through the ship, which seemed oddly empty now. Turning a corner, the dark corridor they were in just… ended. When he looked back, the ship was also gone._

 _There was nothing there but a familiar plane of stars and glowing nebulas._

" _I'm dreaming," Shiro realized. "This is where you took me last night. You saved me from my own nightmare."_

" _Yes," she said proudly._

 _It was the most distinct word he'd heard from her._

 _She didn't give him a lot of time to ponder that thought. The lion laid down on her belly, then ever so slowly began to roll onto her side, gently setting him down._

" _Thank you," Shiro said, running a weak fingered hand through the soft fur on her shoulder._

 _Black pulled away from him however, leaving him lying there on the ground. He reached for her in a sudden panic, but there was no need. She was already coming back to stand over him like she had the night before. He remembered how she'd licked his wounds._

 _Pain, hurt? Help?_

 _Shiro wasn't sure if he was ready to just let her do that again. At the same time though, it had made him feel so loved and cherished. Of course, last time, he hadn't even had the strength to sit up, and he felt much more aware this time. If he let her do this… what would that mean for him?_

 _But… in the end, it was just a dream right? No, somehow, this isn't._

 _Was it really so wrong to just let someone else take care of him for once?_

 _Shiro sat up and began stripping off the purple rags of his slavery, revealing his naked chest, and all the wounds carved into it._

 _Black purred in approval, and nuzzled his cheek before urging him to lie down._

 _Shiro felt a bolt of panic rise up in him as he made himself vulnerable, and he had to breath carefully to keep control. He raised his head to look._

 _Black moved closer but made no move to lick him. It was like she was waiting for him to be comfortable, and it did make him feel better. It made him realize that if he asked her to stop, she would. She lowered her head towards his exposed belly._

" _Hey," Shiro said hesitantly, and she stopped and looked him in the eye. "If you're gonna be licking my wounds every night… I'd... at least like to know your name. Do you have a name?"_

 _The lioness paused thoughtfully for a moment._

" _Nyx."_

 _Shiro smiled, and laid his his head back, closing his eyes. "Nyx," he said._

 _Nyx started with the long incision that went from his lower belly all the way up to the base of his neck in a perfect line. Her tongue flicked out in small gentle strokes, moving slowly up his torso. His breath was quickly turning ragged. It was more intense than last time and his hands gave an involuntary twitch with every single stroke._

 _She wasn't hurting him. It was just that every time her tongue made contact with an open gaping wound, he expected agony. It was warm, almost hot, and he could feel her deep abiding love flowing directly into his soul._

 _Nyx paused suddenly._

" _Breathe, Shiro," she reminded him, and waited until he'd filled his lungs twice before continuing._

 _It was a while before he could relax fully, but the pain was going away. He was dimly aware of her licking his arm, and after a bit, she nudged him until he rolled onto his stomach, letting her get his back. After a while, she seemed satisfied and curled up next to him. The rest of the night was just an impression of darkness, warmth, and her comforting purr._


	3. 3 Return of the Gladiator(Part 1)

This chapter was getting too long! So I broke it down. Not a lot of reviews so far... but I'd really like to get some feedback! Please let me know what you think! Any changes to the story line you would like to see? I'd love suggestions!

I do not own Voltron.

Return of the Gladiator (Part One)

Shiro knew something felt off the moment he woke up that day. The disorientation he put down to waking up in yet a different spot over the course of the last three days. Black… no, Nyx was quick to reassure him, but she seemed a touch concerned about him this morning.

"Rested?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Shiro said uncertainly. There was an odd pressure in the back of his head that he couldn't seem to shake, and his body felt weirdly heavy.

Well, he'd certainly lived through worse. Tomorrow would be better. Nyx was reluctant to let him go, but she understood that he still had duties as her paladin. Shiro exited his lion, but immediately turned and put a hand on her red nose.

"Hey, Nyx," he said, looking into her golden eyes. "Thank you for guarding my sleep. I haven't had this much rest in…"

Memories of the last year threatened to crash through his mind, but he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against his cat. The metal was cool and comforting against his skin. Shiro swallowed back the sudden lump in his throat. What was with the sudden emotion this morning?

Nyx rumbled comfortingly, tightening her grip on their active link.

"This is the most sleep I've gotten in days," he finished. "The paladin's and I will probably end up training more today, so I'll see you in a bit."

The other surprise Shiro got was that he'd overslept. The others were all awake and dressed and muzzily eating the green food goo for breakfast in the… kitchen… thing, when he got there.

"Morning number one!" Coran said brightly, and Shiro narrowly avoided wincing at the altean's volume. "I'm a bit surprised, you're usually the first one here."

Hunk ushered him into a seat, placing a plate of goo in front of him. There wasn't all that much to smell, but right now, the sight of it was making his stomach roll uncomfortably.

"Where were you this morning?" Keith asked him quietly. "I checked your room, but you weren't there." _And neither was your bed._

"I went to check on N-Black this morning," Shiro said meeting his eyes. _I'll explain later._

Keith nodded. "Seriously though," he said. "Are you alright? You're looking kind of pale."

"I think I just overslept a little," Shiro said, forcing himself to eat. "I'll shake it off when we get to training."

The rest of the morning was an exhausted haze, and his stomach was starting to hurt a little, especially after their warm up in the training deck. He put it down to eating before a heavy workout and shrugged it off. Then, it was off to their lions. At least this was easy.

Nyx greeted him happily, despite having never dropped their link from last night. It was just so much better when they were also together physically too. Shiro couldn't help but agree. Sitting in the pilot's chair was undisputedly his favorite place to be right now. The mattress on the floor might be a bit of a problem though.

"Why?" Nyx asked, sounding pouty and confused.

Shiro smiled. "Think about it Nyx," he said as he ran some preflight checks. "If we're pulling expert aerial maneuvers, I can't have that thing bouncing around in here. Maybe I'll find a way to tie it up."

Nyx was thoughtfully quiet for a bit.

"Don't worry about it now," Shiro said. "Let's concentrate on training."

He wasn't too worried about the bedding flopping around in the cockpit this time, around. It was only a training session, getting them used to handling Voltron together.

It was all going just fine, until Lance decided to get fancy and kick some of the wreckage from Sendak's warship. Voltron overbalanced and fell, landing right on its back where Nyx took the majority of the force from the landing. Nyx was just fine, but she cried out for her poor pilot whose stomach twisted with a painful warning.

Shiro had to take a second to breathe through his nose. He didn't think Nyx would appreciate it if he made a mess. She assured him she didn't mind if it made him feel better.

"Let's not try that again," Shiro said, mostly to Lance.

He decided practice was done after that and they disbanded to their separate lions and made their way home.

"Great job training today, guys," Shiro said, trying to keep the quaver out of his voice. "We're really getting the hang of Voltron."

"Seriously!" Lance exclaimed excitedly. "How far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!"

"Yeah," Keith said with quiet mockery. "That'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match."

"Hey," Lance bickered, rising to the bait. "I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it."

Keith rounded on him angrily. "Your kick ruined our balance," the red paladin grumped. "We fell."

"Well," Lance deflected. "That falling part was Hunk's fault."

Shiro was about to shake his head, but thought better of it. He needed to teach that kid to take ownership of his mistakes.

"Hey!" Hunk protested loudly, doing nothing for the pounding in Shiro's head.

The black paladin couldn't take it anymore. "All right," he said, hoping to quiet them down. "Save your energy for fighting Zarkon."

"Hello, guys!" Coran said sliding into the room at his usual top volume.

Shiro hoped nobody noticed his flinch.

"How was the Voltron workout?" the altean asked, setting a covered dish down on the table.

"We're getting there," Shiro said quietly, hoping to bring down the volume of the conversation. "Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

The galra already knew just where they were. It was only a matter of time before they struck again.

"Just about," Coran said as loudly as ever. "In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!"

Off came the cover on the dish he'd just brought in, revealing the most vile looking meal Shiro had ever seen. Even the prison rations he'd received looked better than this. It looked like a steamed bug with no exoskeleton and too many legs, which were oozing its own liquified innards.

A wave of nausea rolled through him. Breathing through his nose wasn't helping. Nyx was pleading with him to come back and just go straight to bed. He was honestly considering that option now.

"Coran," Hunk fussed. "You just got me hooked on that goo, and now you're switching it up?"

"This is packed with nutrients!" Coran assured them, taking a massive bite.

"Oh, it smells disgusting!" Hunk said, backing away.

"I know!" Coran said proudly. "That's how you know it's healthy!"

"Coran," Hunk said in a tone of forced patience. "We're on a planet now, with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up."

Shiro mentally wished him luck, but then realized something. His green paladin had snuck off, and nobody had noticed, not even him.

"Where's Pidge?" Shiro asked, looking around.

"He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon," Coran said, digging what looked like one of the legs off of his monstrosity of a meal. "They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary."

That's right, Shiro thought. Maybe he could get some answers about that name, too.

He was getting up to leave, when suddenly there was a vile smell under his nose. Coran was holding a fork, loaded with his paladin meal, up to his mouth.

"Open the hatch!" the altean shouted, making engine noises. "Food lion coming in!"

Shiro once again nearly lost his food goo. He refused to be held responsible for what was coming if this continued.

"No," Shiro said, and thought about saying something about his rebelling stomach, but he was just too tired. "Just... no."

"You don't know what you're missing!" Coran yelled after him as he made a hasty exit.

His stomach was settling into a nice firm ache when he found Pidge in the infirmary. She was sitting, staring blankly at the laptop screen in front of her, but it was clear to Shiro that her mind was a million miles away.

"You're as anxious as me," he said, trying not to groan as he sat down next to her. The thumping in his head eased a little.

"These aliens we saved know something about my family," Pidge said with conviction, but she was looking desperate. "They have to!"

Shiro's heart went out to her. He knew what it was like to have family taken away. "I hope so," he said quietly.

"They recognized you, didn't they?" Pidge said, looking up at him. "They called you 'Champion.' What does that even mean?"

Shiro winced as a roll of dread joined the other thing currently dancing on his stomach. Did they have to talk about this now? He supposed the conversation was inevitable, but he just did not have much to answer when it was all a roaring blank.

"I don't know," Shiro said. "I can't remember very much from that time. But the way those guys looked at me when we freed them..."

They had looked terrified, at least at first. They looked at him as if they didn't know whether to expect an attack or not. There was also an unsettling amount of awe, and reverence. _What could I have done to put that look on their faces? What did I do?_

"I don't know if I _want_ to find out," Shiro said quietly.

"Hey, um…" Pidge said, and Shiro raised his head, sensing a change in subject.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You seemed really tired this morning, and now you just look really pale."

Shiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment. "You're the third person today to ask me how I'm doing," he complained. "Do I really look that awful?"

"I'm gonna assume you haven't looked in a mirror today," Pidge said.

"I'm not feeling one hundred percent," he admitted. "It'll pass though. I'll just go to bed early."

Pidge was about to pursue the issue, when one of the refugees woke up.

The next few minutes were a blur of helping the refugees out of the pods, calming their fears, and making sure they were as healed up as they could be. Shiro let Pidge handle a lot of the talking since they still seemed nervous around him. He settled for distributing blankets and warm drinks to combat the chill of the pods.

"I know you've just been through something awful," Pidge said. "But I need your help. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"I'll answer what I can," the tall one with four arms answered. He seemed the most put together of this bunch. The rest even seemed to look to him for guidance. "I may not be ready to speak of all that happened."

"It's alright," Shiro assured him. "You can tell us to stop if it gets to be too much."

The alien seemed a little tongue tied at that.

"So," Pidge said, sitting down next to him, trying to keep the conversation flowing. "How long were you held captive by Zarkon?"

"Some for years," the leader said, staring sadly into his cup. "Decades, maybe. It's hard to tell. Time becomes a blur."

Pidge's eyes brightened with hope. "Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived," she said eagerly. "Sam and Matt Holt?"

"I never knew their names," the alien said, but then glanced up at Shiro. "But I certainly remember the other two Earthlings that arrived with Champion."

Shiro felt an immediate thrill of wrongness when the title was brought up. He had to know what it meant. "'Champion,'" Shiro said. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"You really don't remember?" the alien said, looking kind of shocked. "Unbelievable! I could never forget. You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name "Champion." I was there that day, as was the young Earthling."

"Matt," Pidge breathed.

His eyes seemed to glaze over as he remembered, but he continued with his story. "We were all prisoners," he said. "Forced to fight for the entertainment of Zarkon. That day, we were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated."

The alien shook his head. "The fear I felt that day…" he continued. "I knew. Death waited for me in that ring. Slaughter awaited us all. This 'Matt' was the first of us sent to fight. But fate had other plans. You were so thirsty for blood, you injured your fellow Earthling."

Shiro's lungs seized up at the bolt of shock that ran through him. 'I hurt Matt? But I would never-!'

Pidge's head snapped around so she could look at him, eyes full of anger and betrayal. "You attacked my brother?" she said, voice wavering between fury and hurt. "Why!?"

"No!" Shiro said, feeling icy panic reaching up to squeeze at his heart. "It can't be true!"

"I was there," the leader said. "We all were." _We all saw it happen. Ask anyone of us, and they will give you the same story._

Pidge swallowed her emotion for a moment. "After my brother was injured," she said urgently. "Where was he taken?"

"I know not," the leader said with quiet sympathy.

Shiro couldn't stand it anymore. Nyx was panicking in the back of his mind, calling for him. He got up and almost ran to the nearest bathroom. There was a familiar tension in his jaw and stomach that had him dodging for the nearest toilet. He barely made it before his stomach clenched painfully, bringing up what was left of the food goo he'd had that morning. There wasn't much to lose and he suffered through a few dry heaves before his body finally calmed.

He remained where he was, collapsed on his knees, body trembling, head hanging as he took a moment to breathe.

"Shiro?"

Shiro was on his feet, facing the door, arms raised defensively, before his brain registered that it was just Pidge. He let his stance drop, and he hung his head, he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Shiro, I…" Pidge said. "Did you just throw up?"

"I don't believe it," he said, finally managing to look her in the eye. "There's got to be more to the story."

"Okay," Pidge said, nodding. "There's gotta be some kind of record somewhere."

"I-I couldn't have hurt my friend," he said, bracing himself against the wall, knees trembling. Checking records would be a good idea, if only they had the ship that... A surge of hope made his heart skip uncomfortably.

"Wait!" Shiro said, raising his head. "That ship we were held captive on crash-landed on this planet. That was Sendak's ship! They'll have logs of prisoners, some information. We have to find it!"

Shiro righted himself as best he could with the world spinning like it was. He had to pass Pidge to get out the door, but she grabbed his arm. He hope she didn't notice his flinch when she'd reached for him.

"Shiro," She said. "You just threw up, maybe you should sit this one out."

"I'll be fine," Shiro said, reaching up to cover her hand with his own. "This is much more important."

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly, and he nodded.

It would be stupid to go out by himself like this.

Nyx was alternately scolding and purring at him when he came for her. She was really distressed over the new pains in his stomach, and the way his head pounded.

"Sleep. Rest," she insisted.

"There's something you gotta help me with first," Shiro said. "Then I promise, I'll go to sleep."

She wasn't happy with him, but she responded to the controls, and they left the castle. The green lion was already waiting for them, and they headed out to the crash sight of the galra ship.

The wreckage was pretty scattered, and they ended up climbing through several pieces, much to Nyx's displeasure. The jetpacks eased things a little, but Shiro's ears were ringing and his legs were weak by the time they found anything that resembled a computer.

"This looks like the master control board," Pidge announced. "But there's no power."

"All you need is power?" Shiro asked, feeling an odd sort of not quite memory start to surface. He looked at his galra tech arm, turning it at the wrist.

"Yeah," Pidge said, still sounding discouraged. "But one that's compatible with Galra tech."

Shiro hesitantly put the metal hand down on the console, and concentrated. The hand began to glow, and the console lit up along with it.

"Whoa…" Pidge said, eyes the size of dinner plates behind her glasses. "I can't believe you got this to work!"

She set to work with haste, plugging her own device into the computer.

"My dad's and Matt's whereabouts must be logged in here somewhere," she said. "Once I download this information, I'll find some way to decode it back at the Castle."

It looked like her plan was a simple one. Instead of trying to find just the information she wanted, she'd just take it all and find it later in the safety of the castle. Who knows what other useful things they might uncover?

Shiro would have been content to stand there through the whole transfer, but the faint sound of a sonic boom had him looking up. "What?" There was a ball of fire in the sky and judging by the way it just seemed to get bigger, it was very much in danger of crashing right into their position. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Pidge asked, trying to get as much height out of her tip toes as she could, but she clearly couldn't see it from her angle.

"Something just entered the atmosphere," Shiro said, starting to feel his adrenalin pick up. "I'm not sure what it is, but it's big, it's Galra, and it's coming right for us. We gotta go!"

He started to pull his glowing hand away from the consul, but Pidge pounced on his arm, mashing it back down with desperation.

"Shiro, don't move!" she said ferociously. "I'm only fifteen percent done. I'm not going anywhere."

Shiro looked again at the approaching fireball. If they waited much longer, there was no way they'd be able to escape the blast radius when that thing hit the ground.

"Pidge, I'm sorry!" Shiro said, throwing his arm around her waist and activating the jetpack.

"No!" she cried, still reaching for the galra computer.

"Team, come in!" Shiro said activating the coms as he flew them out of the wreckage. "We need backup! Hello?"

"Shiro?" Allura responded, sounding confused at his urgency.

"Where is everyone?" Shiro shouted.

He was just able to hear Keith ask what was going on. They'd have help soon.

Shiro had just set them down on level ground, but he immediately had to restrain Pidge, who was struggling wildly to get away from him and go back in.

"No!" she shouted, trying to pull her arm out of his grip. "Shiro, let me go! My father! Huh?"

That's when she also saw the approaching fireball. Her face blanched with fear.

"Run!" Shiro shouted, activating his jet pack.

He was relieved to feel Pidge do the same.

The noise was deafening and the heat was starting to get more than a little uncomfortable, even through the paladin armor.

 _Nyx!_ Shiro cried out in his mind.

The initial shock wave carried no heat, but it was enough to knock them out of the air. It was like getting hit by a freight train. Shiro hit the ground and curled into a ball, because the fire was next.

There was a lot of wind and heat, but the fire, the pain never came. Shiro looked up as the dust settled and was surprised and relieved to see Nyx and even the green lion standing protectively over them.

Shiro closed his eyes for a moment. _Thank you, Nyx,_ he told her.

"Our lions just saved us," Pidge said, sounding floored. "I didn't know they could do that."

 _Nyx, is this because of our bond?_

 _Yes._

"Huh? Um. Shiro?" Pidge said pointing at the object that had nearly crushed them. It was huge, about the height of Voltron. It was painted black with hints of red, and it was also some kind of carrier crate. It opened before their eyes, revealing a monster the size of Voltron.

It was humanoid, but one of its arms seemed to be an energy weapon of some kind. It was a purple sphere of crackling energy. The mech itself was frighteningly organic with a sloping neck set on muscular looking shoulders. One of its eyes was green with a black slitted iris. The whole thing was disturbingly… familiar.

And it was looking right at them.


	4. 4 Return of the Gladiator(Part 2)

Chapter's up folks! As always! Please review!

I do not own Voltron.

Enjoy!

Return of the Gladiator (Part Two)

It was humanoid, but one of its arms seemed to be an energy weapon of some kind. It was a purple sphere of crackling energy. The mech itself was frighteningly organic with a sloping neck set on muscular looking shoulders. One of its eyes was green with a black slitted iris. The whole thing was disturbingly… familiar.

And it was looking right at them.

"Get in your lion!" Shiro shouted to Pidge.

He ran for Nyx, just as the monstrosity began to move.

Shiro sat down in the pilot's seat just in time to direct Nyx out of the path of the monster's first attack. They circled the thing and it fired the orb at the green lion. Pidge fired back an energy blast intending to either knock it aside, or destroy it.

The blast didn't even slow it down and Shiro watched the green lion hit the ground and bounce a few times. The beast immediately ran to take advantage of that weakness.

Shiro knew it was foolish to close with an enemy that large, but he needed to protect them. Nyx pounced, digging her jaws into the neck of their enemy. It didn't seem to concerned, but that wasn't the point. It was no longer going after Pidge. Instead, it grabbed Nyx and threw her like a rag doll.

Shiro gasped in pain at the impact, and even Nyx was a little shaken.

Then the red lion came swooping in with the two others hard on her heels.

"Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!" Keith shouted over the coms.

"I'm on it!" Lance responded, adding blue's might to the firepower pummeling the monster.

"Check this out!" Hunk yelled as he flanked it. "Battle-lion head-butt!"

The yellow lion charged head first into the beast's back. She bounced right off, but kept full control, landing on her feet. The beast however lost balance and fell.

Shiro couldn't help but feel proud as Nyx got to her feet in the breathing room they had provided.

"You guys okay down there?" Keith asked.

"Still alive for now," Shiro said, holding his aching stomach as he directed Nyx to join the others in the air.

"Are the Galra behind this?" Hunk asked, sounding a little freaked out.

"I think so, but I've never seen anything like it," Shiro said. Well, that wasn't quite accurate. He still had a feeling he'd seen something like this before, but in a vastly different context. He hadn't pegged the Galra as the type to favor moble mechs in combat situations.

"So, what's the plan?" Lance asked as the thing started to stand. "Shoot at it with everything we've got? Take out its weapon? Call it names?"

This would be their first test run with Voltron after having had some actual training. Shiro decided this would be good for them.

"If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it," Shiro said as Nyx roared, calling out to the other lions. "Form Voltron!"

"Remember," he instructed as their lions formed together. "We are one unit, fighting with one goal."

They charged, Keith taking the first swing, Pidge following up with an uppercut that staggered the thing. It actually took a moment to shake its head. They would have continued pummeling the thing but the purple energy orb came back, slamming into them, and knocking Voltron down.

They rolled over just in time to see that weapon coming down on them and only just got out of the way.

"I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!" Keith shouted sounding a little frantic.

"Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?!" Hunk complained.

A hit threw them and they landed braced on their elbows. Shiro looked up to see a tiny village, not even a mile away from them. If Voltron landed on that, there wouldn't be anything left.

"Oh, no!" Shiro said, heart climbing into his throat. "The village! We have to protect those people!"

The next hit almost landed them right on top of the town square, but they were just able to recover. The monster only seemed to have eyes for them, fortunately and they were able to lead it away from the little gathering of houses.

"That was close!" Shiro said.

"We got him away from the Arusians, but we can't take him down!" Pidge said sounding discouraged.

"I got it!" Lance shouted starting a maneuver. "I'm going to power-kick that orb thing!"

Oh no…

"No!" Keith protested. "The last time you did a kick, we fell!"

But it was too late, they were already in the air.

"Stop living in the past!" Lance shouted, and then yelled a war cry, cutting off abruptly when he realized that he'd missed. "Oh, no!"

The orb hit Nyx full in the face, rattling both lion and pilot. Shiro was almost thrown from his chair, but he did his best to shake it off and get them standing again. CQC clearly wasn't working. It was time to pull out some ranged weapons.

"Pidge, fire lasers now!" Shiro ordered.

"Got it!" she responded. "Fire! Oops!"

A large red shield unfolded, and it would have been pretty cool, but it prevented the green lion from going on the offensive.

"No!" Shiro said, starting to lose his cool a little. "Lasers! Lasers!"

"Uhhh!" Pidge said sounding nervous.

The beast was on them at that point, knocking them down yet again with that orb.

"Every time we focus on that orb, we're blindsided by the monster," Hunk said, starting to lay out its strategy. "And every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!"

"Then what do we do?" Lance shouted.

He was right, they needed some kind of counter strategy.

"Orb!" Hunk shouted.

The next hit knocked them into the hillside. Shiro nearly knocked his head on his flight console. Nyx was crooning gently to him doing her best to comfort him. His stomach lurched in protest, and he almost started to heave. It wasn't helping that this monster was familiar somehow.

The feeling of fear, the whir and click of that orb weapon, the emerging desperation to live through this, it was all familiar, and suddenly it came to him. For a moment, he was back in the gladiator ring, but this time Nyx was there to pull him out.

"Shiro, we gotta move!" Keith was saying. "Shiro, are you there? Shiro!"

"That sound…" Shiro said. "I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon's prison."

The fight had been brutal, and he did not come away from it unscathed, but he had emerged victorious and alive in the end. Hope surged through him. He got them out of the way of the monster's next strike.

"I know how to beat him!" Shiro said. "Listen, there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weakest point. That's when we strike."

It was good to have a plan.

"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk said.

"Defense!" Shiro said. "Pidge, we need that shield!"

Pidge brought up the shield and Keith backed her up, adding his lion's strength. The orb hit them, and the impact was jarring and they were shoved back, but they held on.

"That's one," Shiro counted, remembering how he'd had to hide behind a pillar. "Two more to go!"

The next strike was just as staggering.

"We can't take much more!" Hunk said.

"Last one!" Shiro assured him. "Everyone brace for impact!"

The last hit broke the shield apart, sending the two pieces spinning away to lodge deep into the ground.

"Now!" Shiro said.

Keith responded immediately, letting loose with a long pulse of laser fire, that knocked the thing off its feet.

They stood still for a second, trying to see through the dust they'd raised. The thing stood up, unfazed, and attacked again, hitting Voltron square in the chest.

Shiro almost lost himself to memory. He had taken the same blow, an it had sent him tumbling. He narrowly avoided cutting himself on the odd sword they'd given him for the fight.

"It didn't work!" Pidge said, still on the edge of panic.

"So, now what?" Lance said, asking for a new plan.

So far as Shiro knew, this was the only way. It was just…

"When I attacked him before, I had a sword!" Shiro said. He could feel himself starting to falter, there were black spots swimming before his eyes, and his stomach felt like it was trying to implode. It was getting kind of hard to breathe.

"Orb! Orb!" Hunk screamed, not wanting to take another hit.

Keith's lion took the majority of that hit, he'd just reacted, automatically, shielding his torso, and Nyx from the blow, just like he would in a fight man to man.

"We can't take another shot like that!" Pidge reported.

Nyx was really feeling the strain. _Hold on, just a little longer!_ Shiro told her.

"Wait a second, guys!" Keith spoke up, there was a new energy in his tone. "I think my lion's telling me what to do."

"Well whatever it is, hurry up and do it!" Lance urged him. "He's about to fire his third shot!"

Shiro felt some relief, he had lost track between the pain and the memories threatening to pull him out of the moment. Lance had been paying attention.

Keith also took that hit, and Shiro was able to at least keep Voltron on its knees.

He felt it when Keith activated whatever the red lion had in store, and suddenly, he just knew it was a sword.

The monstrous Myzax copy was coming for them, jumping through the air for a finishing blow. Shiro gave Keith the last of his strength, and Voltron formed its sword, slashing it right through the beast, not giving it the chance to land its hit.

Shiro only got a clue that it was over when he heard the collective cheer from his paladins, and he managed to raise his head a bit and see the smoking wreckage of their enemy.

"Yeah! We did it!" they cried.

"How did you do that?" Hunk asked.

Shiro dropped his head back down on the consul in front of him with a smile. The paladins had done well today. They deserved their moment of victory. He was dimly aware of Nyx calling his name as everything went black.

The celebration for the other four paladins was cut short abruptly, when the black lion roared. It was not an angry noise. They all agreed later that it sounded terrified. Voltron broke apart, leaving them in their separate lions.

"What?" Hunk asked in bewilderment. They'd been doing so well. "What just happened? Why'd we fall apart?"

They heard Pidge gasp in sudden realization over the coms. "Shiro's sick! He threw up before we came out here!"

"What?!" Keith snapped. "Shiro, come in!"

The silence they got was chilling. The black lion roared again, and bolted, heading straight for the castle.

The other lions were quick to follow.

"Shiro! Answer your com!" Keith tried again. "Are you there?"

In the end, they had to park their lions, and head over to the largest hangar bay on foot. They had each independently contacted Allura to tell her what was going on. Black was still standing, lashing her tail in agitation when they got there, but she immediately lowered her head and let them in when she saw them.

Shiro was still in his chair, but slumped forward across the flight controls, unconscious. He wasn't waking up, and they had to pry his hands off the control sticks. Pidge gently pulled off his helmet, and put a hand on his forehead. She could feel his temperature right through her glove.

"He's burning up," she said.

"Humans get fevers too?" Allura asked as she and Coran strode up to them. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since this morning," Keith said taking his helmet off and throwing it on the floor in frustration. "I should have known."

"Not to fret!" Coran said, digging through the satchel he'd brought with him. "I noticed number one wasn't looking quite right, so I whipped up this little concoction, tailored to human physiology. It'll have him feeling right in less than a tick."

The altean produced what looked like a hypodermic needle, just like the ones they had at home.

"You're gonna have to come up with a version that can be taken orally," Keith said.

Coran tilted Shiro's head to the side and deftly inserted the needle into a vein, emptying the vile with a slow steady pressure.

Shiro tensed, pulling away from the pain in his neck. "No…" he said, sounding distressed.

Coran pulled out the needle and put pressure on the injection sight to stop any bleeding.

The black paladin groaned as his eyelids began to flutter.

"Uh…" Keith said. "You might wanna back up."

"Why's that?" Coran said.

Just then, Shiro's eyes snapped open, and he came up swinging. Coran, was only just able to get himself out of the range of Shiro's fist.

"Woah! Number one! We're all friends here!" Coran said, backing up further and raising his hands defensively. "Stand down!"

"Shiro, its okay," Keith said quietly.

Shiro stood there glaring at them a bit longer, but then he blinked a few times, a light of recognition breaking through the glazed look in his silver eyes.

"Keith?" he asked, rubbing his left hand over his neck. He frowned at the line of blood that came away on his hand. "Did somebody stick me with a needle just now?"

Coran hid the needle behind his back. "Just a little medicine," he said. "You blacked out after the fight was over, and you've got a high fever! Scans indicated a high stress reaction, that's only just now surfacing. Whatever happened to you back on your Earth must have been a doozy and a half!"

All the kids looked sharply at Shiro.

"Shiro, you didn't tell them what happened?" Lance said.

Shiro suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "It never came up."

"Um," Hunk said hesitantly. "I know it might be difficult, and I totally sympathize, but if we ever have a situation like this again, I think it would be better if they knew."

"Knew what?" Allura asked, looking confused and slightly concerned.

"Shiro?" Keith asked. "It's up to you."

Shiro sighed heavily, swaying a little on his feet. "Fine, I'll tell them, but you kids need to go take care of your lions."

Keith nodded. "Everybody out," he said, and the other four paladins left.

Shiro let himself sink back down into his chair. Nyx rumbled a concerned inquiry at him.

"I'm okay," he said patting the arm of his chair.

Allura came forward an knelt down in front of him, expression gentle as she met his eyes.

"I knew you'd seen some action," she said. "It must have been bad if your body is only just now dealing with the stress of it. Tell us as much or as little as you like."

Shiro nodded, and let his mind go back to that fateful mission.

"Earth is only just now becoming a space faring race," he said. "Matt and Sam Holt, a couple of our scientists were sent out to the furthest moon in our solar system: Kerberos. I was the pilot on that mission. We were abducted by the Galra there, and it was Sendak's warship."

The two altean's heads snapped up in surprise.

"When did this happen?" Allura asked sounding horrified and worried.

"Keith said it's been about a year," Shiro said shaking his head. "We were enslaved. Sam and Matt were sent to the mines. I made sure of that. But they kept me for the gladiator ring, and… other... things."

"What… did they do?" Allura said.

"They…" Shiro stopped and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "It'll be easier if I just show you," he said and started taking of the chest plate of his armor.

The two alteans watched in horrified silence as his scars were revealed. Shiro didn't have it in him to see their expressions as they traced his scars with their eyes. Allura gasped suddenly.

"Coran that's-!" Allura started, but trailed off.

"Barbaric," Coran finished.

"Tell me you weren't awake when they did that!" Allura said, leaning in closer, reaching out towards him.

Shiro flinched back from her, and she stopped.

He took a deep shuddering breath to try to steady himself against the onslaught of memories that he _had_ kept, in crystal clarity. Well, the memory was actually painted in shades of red. Of all the things he had to remember, it was that night.

Shiro chuckled suddenly, but it was dark and humorless.

"Shiro?" Allura said, almost fearfully.

"The Kerberos mission…" he said shaking his head… "We were looking for evidence of life outside our solar system. Well, we found it… and _it_ studied _us_."

"Vivisection is illegal," Allura said, a note of anger entering her tone. "And for a _very_ good reason."

Shiro reached for his shirt. He could feel their eyes on him still, and it was reminding him of how he'd been studied. _They would never hurt me_ , he reminded himself as he pulled the material down over his torso.

"That's why I woke up swinging," he said, getting up. "If you ever catch me asleep again… maybe throw something at me next time… from a distance. I need to go find Pidge."

He left the two stunned alteans in the black lion, who grumbled at them until they also left.

Shiro found her on the stone walkway leading up to the castle. She was sitting staring at the sunset with her legs dangling over the edge. Allura's little team of mice were piled haphazardly over her lap.

"Pidge," he said softly, trying not to startle her. "There you are."

She glanced up at him briefly, and quickly looked away. Shiro's heart clenched at the troubled mix of disappointment and hurt he caught in her eyes. Two guesses as to what she was thinking about. He only needed one.

"Why would you hurt my brother?" she asked without looking at him. Her tone was quiet and subdued. "You were friends."

"I did it to save him," Shiro said softly.

Pidge's head snapped back up as she looked at him again. "What?" she asked in confusion. _You had to hurt him to save him? Where's the logic?_

Shiro groaned a little as he lowered himself down to sit with her. He was starting to get dizzy looking down that drop.

"My memory of the event came back when we were fighting the monster," Shiro said, letting the memory wash over him with a little trepidation. "We'd already been separated. Your dad was being sent off with the weaker prisoners to a work camp. Meanwhile, Matt and I were forced to fight in the gladiator arena. Matt was going to fight first, but he was scared. We all were."

 _They stood in two parallel lines. Shiro thought it felt way too much like they were lambs being lined up for slaughter. At least Matt was with him. If they worked together, maybe they could get through this alive._

 _He could tell Matt was scared though. The kid was shivering, hugging himself fearfully._

" _I'm not going to make it," Matt said, close to tears. "I'll never see my family again!"_

" _You can do this!" Shiro said, putting conviction into his tone. At this point, they had to._

 _The guards came for Matt grabbing his arms. They weren't taking anybody else. 'They're going to take us one by one and make us fight alone!' Shiro realized with a jolt of panic. He wouldn't be there to protect Matt! And in that moment of desperation, a plan was born._

" _This is my fight!" Shiro screamed angrily, hoping they would buy it._

 _He surged forward, and grabbed the odd sword from the guard waiting in the ring, and dodged back, taking a swing at his friend's leg before his nerves got the better of him._

 _Matt's scream of pain would haunt his nightmares he was sure, but it was a clean cut, one that would heal with no complications, and Matt would be eliminated from the fight._

 _Shiro threw himself down on the kid, as if to tear him limb from limb with his bare hands._

" _I want blood!" he screamed, not enjoying the look of confused hurt on his friend's face._

" _Take care of your father," Shiro whispered to him, and managed an apologetic smile. Then rough hands, seized his shoulders and he was dragged away. The first to be thrown into the ring, just as he'd intended._

Shiro came back to himself, glad to be done with that story. That was the last time he saw Matt, and he could only hope the kid would forgive him.

"You saved him?" Pidge said, tearing up. "You attacked him so they would choose you instead."

Suddenly, she launched herself at him, flinging her arms around his middle in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry I doubted you!" she cried. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Shiro was startled to say the least, but it felt good. He settled his arms around her with a smile.

"I can tell you really miss them," he said, trying to give her a little comfort. He was the very last person who had any contact with them after all. "I know they miss you, too."

He was quiet for a bit as he decided to take one more chance on their growing trust. It was only fair to let her know that he knew she was a girl.

"Your brother and father would be proud of you," he said. "Katie."

Pidge stiffened up and pulled away from him with a gasp. Eyes wide with alarm.

"Don't worry," he said. "Your secret's safe with me."

She calmed down after a bit, posture relaxing as she decided to trust him.

Shiro closed his eyes and sighed with slight relief. "I didn't mean to scare you like that," he said. "I just figured it would be better out in the open that I knew."

"I… can appreciate that," Pidge said. "How long have you known?"

"Back on Sendak's ship during our mission to get the red lion," Shiro said. "Really I should have put it together before that. With your hair short and those glasses, you look scarily like your older brother. Definitely more feminine though."

The last of the sun slipped out of sight, and the heat of the day was quickly diminishing. Shiro shivered.

Pidge glanced at him again.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she said.

Shiro looked at her in shock, the motion making his head spin a little. "What?"

She stood up and reached for him, helping him get up and away from the edge of the drop.

"When did you start feeling sick?" she asked.

Oh. Is that was this is about.

Shiro sighed. "It's been getting worse since this morning," he admitted. "That fight with the Myzax copy didn't help either."

"No sh-."

"Pidge!"

"Wait… Myzax copy. Didn't one of the aliens mention him earlier?"

"That's what we just fought," Shiro confirmed. "He was the first guy I faced in the gladiator matches. Only, much smaller."

"That's… a little weird," Pidge said as they walked slowly back to the castle. "Don't you think?"

Shiro snorted softly. "You're telling me!" he said. "One thing we know for sure now, though. They definitely know I'm here."


	5. 5 Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Little warning about this one! It gets pretty intense.

Drop a review!

I do not own Voltron!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Keith was waiting for them when they got back inside.

"Shiro, you shouldn't be moving around," he said.

"There was something that couldn't wait," Shiro said, heading for the nearest bench and sitting down. His adrenaline rush from earlier was wearing off. He had to admit to himself that whatever Coran had given him had helped quite a bit. His stomach was no longer clenching painfully. Now he was just tired. There was a weakness in his legs that he didn't like.

"Hey, you okay?" Pidge asked, sitting down next to him.

"I'll be alright," he said. "I'm just not looking forward to the long walk back to Nyx."

Pidge and Keith exchanged a quick look.

"Whose Nyx?" they asked at the same time.

"Sorry," Shiro said, of course they wouldn't know. "That's the Black Lion."

Keith's face suddenly lit up with a teasing smile. "You named your lion?"

Pidge elbowed him in the leg from where she was sitting. "Hey, it's cute," she said.

"No," Shiro said. "That's been her name from the start. She told me last night."

"You hear words from her?" Keith asked. "All I get are feelings, images."

Shiro nodded. "It did start out that way," he said. "But ever since that…"

How much did he want to tell them? This was getting into very personal ground.

 _They help too!_ Nyx suddenly urged him. She'd been quiet up until now.

"Shiro?" Keith asked, kneeling down in front of him.

These kids deserved the chance to bond with their lions just as closely as he had gotten with Nyx. He would tell them what he could.

"I've been having nightmares," he said, at last.

"Hey, you don't have to-."

"No, it's okay," Shiro said. "And no, I'm not ready to talk about what happens in the dreams. This is more about how I was able to connect with Nyx."

"This is how you were successful in that blind piloting exercise," Keith realized.

"Exactly," Shiro said. "It all started two nights ago. I had a dream. It was so bad, that even after I woke up… I thought I was back on Sendak's ship. It was dumb luck that I stumbled into Nyx's hangar. I was about to take off, when I realized that I was still here in the castle."

"I… Didn't realize it was that bad," Pidge said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Shiro smiled and slung an arm around her shoulders. "If I can think of anything, I'll let you know," he said. "For now though, Nyx has actually been guarding my dreams."

"Oh," Keith said. "That's where your mattress went."

"You've been sleeping in the Black Lion," Pidge put it together. "That's one way to bond."

"Maybe we should all do that," Keith said.

"I can't say I'm an expert," Shiro said. "But keep in mind that each relationship is going to be a little different. What worked for me may not work for you, so you might have to find something unique to you and your lion."

"That makes sense," Pidge said. "One more thing though, how are you able to hear her so clearly?"

"Do you know the exercise where we had to form Voltron with our minds?" Shiro asked, struggling to come up with a good example. "It was kind of like that. She reached out to me and I reached back."

"Wouldn't you need one of those helmet thingies to do that?" Pidge asked.

Shiro shook his head. "The connection is already there," he said. "It was probably formed when the lion first accepted you. You just have to… open the door."

The two seemed thoughtful for a moment, and Shiro sighed, smiling ruefully.

"Sorry, it's kinda hard to explain," he said.

Pidge shrugged. "It's not like any of us have a whole lot of experience with this stuff," she said. "Half the time, I feel like I'm making it up as I go along."

"It's been a learning curve for all of us," Keith said.

There was a moment of silence and Shiro found himself beginning to zone out. He shifted, getting his feet ready to support his weight.

"I'm gonna turn in," he said. "You two should also get some rest. With the preparations to leave, I have a feeling tomorrow is also going to be a long day."

"Actually, Allura's throwing a party for the Arusians tomorrow, as a thank you," Keith said. "We met the natives today."

Shiro stood, rubbing his hand across his stinging eyes. Yep, tomorrow was going to be a long day.

"I'm going to bed," he said in the same tone as one might say 'I give up.'

Pidge and Keith wished him a goodnight, and he made the walk to Nyx's hangar.

The lioness's greeting was gentle, and she met him at the door to spare him the need to walk. Shiro patted the metal he could reach fondly as he stepped inside. But as he stared at the spot his mattress had been this morning, he came to a sudden realization. None of the bedding had been bouncing around in the cockpit during the fight, and he hadn't had the time to move it. It was also nowhere in sight now.

"Nyx, where's my bed?" he asked. "Did you spit it out somewhere?"

'No,' she said, tone amused and smug all at once.

"You didn't hide it did you?" he asked going up to the front view screen and glancing around the hangar bay.

There was a hydraulic hiss behind him, and he turned just in time to see a panel unfolding from the wall with the mattress on it.

Huh…

The blankets were a rumpled mess, and somehow his pajamas had ended up beneath the mattress, but it was all there.

"Okay, I'm impressed," he said. "That's one problem solved."

'You're welcome,' she said.

Shiro settled in for the night to her contented purr. Laying down on the soft bedding under the cool blankets was heaven. The aches and pains of the day began to quiet down. He lay in bed for a while, a little unwilling to close his eyes.

Nyx would be there to save him, without fail, but the last two nights started with a nightmare before she could get to him. He didn't want to go back there.

Loving reassurance filled him from the inside, and he closed his eyes, grateful for the feeling of safety that stole over him. He allowed himself to drift off…

 _It was a rough first day. Myzax had nearly killed him, and there was a terrible burn on his chest where he'd been hit by that purple orb. He had survived though, and Matt was… safe? -ish? But now he was alone. None of the other aliens trusted him either. It seemed he had isolated himself with his bloodthirsty behavior. It's not like his acting had been that convincing._

 _Shiro turned onto his side, trying to keep the fabric of the slave uniform from chafing at the burn on his chest. Who knew what tomorrow would bring._

 _There was a quiet beep from outside his cell. Shiro tensed. Was that his door, or his neighbor's?_

 _The door to his cell slid open, and Shiro rocketted to his feet. He never stood a chance. The guards were ready for him, slamming his already sore body against the wall of his cell. They immobilized him with some kind of weird cuffs that seemed magnetic. Before he knew it, they also got a collar around his neck that was attached to a rod, the kind of thing used to safely subdue wild animals._

 _Shiro's blood boiled at the indignity._

 _Another figure entered the cell. It was hunched over and cloaked, but long white hair spilled out from under the cowl. Shiro startled a little, thinking at first that he was looking at another human, but she raised her head to look at him._

 _There was a feeling of wrongness about her that made his skin crawl and his hair stand on end. Her skin was a deep purple, and long lines of blood red marked her cheeks in downward slashes. The most startling thing about her was her eyes. They glowed with yellow light. There was no visible iris to track where she was looking, but Shiro knew without a doubt that all her concentration was on him._

 _She did not ask him any questions. There were no grand statements. Nothing happened for several moments._

 _Shiro stared back in the only form of defiance he had left as she studied him._

 _At last, she finally looked away, but only because she was turning to leave. "Bring him," she said quietly, her voice harsh and emotionless._

 _The guards secured a second rod to the collar, and suddenly the cuffs snapped his wrists together behind his back in a way that pulled painfully at his shoulders. He was forced to march, or be strangled._

 _They took him only a short way down the hall before turning into a room. It was about as dim as the rest of the ship, but what he saw there had him fighting despite the choke hold they had on him. There was a wrack, all set up with waiting restraints, and there was a sinister array of tools hanging within convenient reach from the ceiling._

 _Fear gave him strength, and he managed to pull one of the rods out of the hands of one of the guards. He was about to lunge at the other guard when something hit him. It sent him flying, and he hit the wall with stunning force. Then their hands were on him, pulling him up, pushing him back. The restraints closed around his wrists and ankles, leaving him completely helpless._

 _The collar and rods were removed._

 _Two more hooded figures joined the crowd as the guards stepped back. These were different from the first. There was no way to tell if they were male or female, and they wore stark white masks with no visible spots for their eyes. Two sets of slanting yellow lines gave them an angry look. The masks tapered down to a sharp point._

 _One carried a knife._

" _What do you want?" Shiro finally asked as the one approached him with that blade._

 _It wordlessly grabbed the collar of his uniform and yanked it open. He flinched as the knife came near his throat, but the thing did not cut him. With the shiver inducing sound of tearing fabric, it cut his clothes right off his body, leaving him naked._

 _The leader, the one with no mask, was back, and she stared at him again, burning gaze clinical and calculating. Her face gave nothing away._

" _Give him the paralytic," she said._

 _Shiro's blood ran cold, and he yanked frantically at the restraints, but it was no use. There was a stab of pain in both his arms and he felt something enter his bloodstream. It burned as it raced through his body, and the more it spread, the less he could move. No matter how frantically he commanded his arms to move, they would not._

" _We'll have to be gentle with this one," the witch said, running a hand down his chest. "I want him to live through this. Such spirit is rare."_

 _Shiro would have shivered at her touch, but his body was now completely unresponsive. Whatever they gave him had not touched his heart or lungs though, and he could feel his heart race and his lungs tighten as he began to panic._

 _The witch frowned. "I don't want him hyperventilating," she said. "Put him on the breather."_

 _A black hose was lowered into his field of vision, and one of the masks gripped his head, pulling his mouth open. The other mask uncoiled the hose, quickly finding the end of it._

" _Swallow Champion, or choke," was the only warning he got before he felt the hose go into his mouth, and then scrape painfully down the back of his throat._

 _Air was forced into his lungs, and pulled back out at a regular rate as the tube was shoved in deeper. His heart was forced to slow to match it. He felt the table move, and he was laid flat, feet elevated to combat shock. The witch was leaning into his line of sight suddenly._

" _I will know how you work Champion," she said. "That way, I can fix you when you break."_

 _He never saw the knife that cut into him. It never entered his narrow range of vision, but he sure knew what it felt like. Fire blossomed at the base of his throat, cutting down the center of his chest, branding the tender skin on his belly. An alarming feel of sudden… looseness had him trying to look down. Sick pain rebounded through him from the crown of his head, to the soles of his feet as his chest was pulled open. He couldn't even scream._

 _Shiro didn't have to look to know that his organs were now exposed. The witch hovered above him, apathetic to his agony. She was reaching to put her hand inside him, and he just felt her fingertips on a place they should never touch, when a ferocious roar shook the room._

 _Curved metal claws punched through the ceiling and gripped, then pulled, tearing the room open with no effort. Tears rolled down the sides of Shiro's face as he knew that Nyx had come to save him. Her golden eyes flashed with rage as she gazed down at Haggar and her Druids. Nyx opened her mouth and roared again, it was the most vicious sound he'd ever heard from her. White light overwhelmed his eyes, as the lioness attacked. He never heard any screams._

 _The light faded and Nyx was standing over him in her smaller form, making a worried moaning noise. She gripped the breathing hose carefully in her mouth and slowly pulled it out of him, and he was very relieved when it caused him no further pain. He gasped as it came out, and he quickly re-established his own rhythm._

" _Nyx!" he sobbed. "I can't-! It hurts! It hurts! Please!"_

 _She lowered her head down into his face, and licked the bridge of his nose, forcing him to close his eyes. She roared again, and the world seemed to shift around them. He felt the restraints disappear from his limbs._

 _When he opened his eyes next. The nightmare was gone, and he lay on his back in the now familiar astral plane. Nyx stood over him, her four legs caging him in protectively. He still couldn't seem to move, like he was still paralyzed, not that he wanted to look down at himself at the moment._

 _Nyx moved out of his field of vision, and Shiro's heart jumped painfully in his chest._

' _I'm here,' she said. 'I'm here, be still. You're safe!'_

 _Gentle heat surged in his belly, overwhelming the pain, and Shiro gasped in relief, letting it out with a sob. Whatever Nyx did just now, it had closed him up, and his organs were no longer on display. Then the familiar liquid heat of Nyx licking his wounds sent him over the edge, and he wept with relief._

' _I'm here, Shiro,' she kept repeating. 'Rest, I am with you now.'_

 _After a little while as the pain faded, he found that he could move again, and he sat up, despite the fact that Nyx wasn't finished with him._

' _Lie down,' she scolded, but stopped when he threw his arms around her neck and buried his face in her soft midnight fur, his body still quaking with fear._

' _Oh, Shiro,' she said, relenting. The lioness settled onto her haunches, and wrapped her free front leg around him. He felt her tongue swipe down the back of his shoulder._

" _What to-took you-?" Shiro started to ask, stopping as he couldn't control his exhausted stuttering._

' _That was no dream,' Nyx said. 'It was harder to… harder to..."_

 _She trailed off, and he had the sense that she was looking for a particular word._

' _It was harder to reach you,' she settled, sounding a bit frustrated._

 _Shiro, closed his eyes for a moment. She was right though. That... was a memory._

" _I understand you more this time," he said. "But that's not just about the depth of our bond is it?"_

' _No,' she said. 'For a long time, I did not think like you. Thoughts were disorganized, weak. I look through your eyes, and I learn. You're not angry?'_

 _Shiro lifted his head in surprise. He gently pushed her back far enough that he could look her in the eye. Her golden eyes were bright with guilt._

" _Why would I be angry about that?" Shiro asked, putting a gentle hand on her cheek. "I did invite you into my head after all. I like your company."_

 _Nyx relaxed, and pressed her face into his hand with a purr. 'I like your company too,' she said. 'I like to learn.'_

" _A bond is a two way street," Shiro said, leaning his forehead against hers as his breath hitched with pain. "I know, I'm damaged. I know that I might always need your help, but I want to help you too, if I can."_

 _Nyx's purr turned explosive, she was so happy. Her joy was like a perfect summer day._

' _None have offered this before!' she said._

" _Well they weren't me," Shiro said, feeling a note of anger blossom through the pain in his chest at whoever preceded him._

' _Indeed they were not,' she said, but then gently pressed against his shoulder. 'And never have I wanted to help so much. I can feel your pain, let me help.'_

 _Shiro lay back down and let her finish, giving her access to his back on request._

 _Nyx lay down next to him when she finished, her purr was full and contented. Shiro pushed himself up off the ground and lay back, with his head and shoulders supported against her belly, just behind her shoulder._

" _Why do I always feel so weak here?" he asked._

' _Wounds of soul are longer to heal,' Nyx said, the sentence a bit clumsy, and she heaved a great sigh. 'Even if the body is already healed. Your dreams aren't helping. They tear you open fresh.'_

" _Have I actually healed at all?" Shiro asked in frustration._

' _You are stronger this time,' Nyx noted. 'The wounds do not bleed anymore. They would not stop last time.'_

" _I guess that is progress," Shiro said, closing his eyes. "I still feel so tired."_

' _Rest, Shiro,' Nyx told him, turning to lick his shoulder again. 'We are together.'_

 _Nyx's warmth and her comforting purr lulled him into a state of peace, and he let himself drift._


	6. 6 The Fall of the Castle of Lions

Once I got started, this chapter wrote itself! I hope it's been as fun to read as it has been to write it! Anyway, let me know what you think (please review)!

I do not own Voltron.

Enjoy!

The Fall of the Castle of Lions

The next day went by in a blurr, but a comfortable one. Shiro still felt a little weak and tired, but significantly better than yesterday. All his offers of help to prepare for the party were denied as everybody told him to rest up. A day of forced inactivity did not sound appealing, so he spent the day with Nyx. After a satisfying flight, they set down in a pleasant looking glade.

There was a nice little pond surrounded by a scattering of trees, and other examples of the planet's flora. Shiro flopped down on the soft grass (apparently grass and mice were universal constants), and stared up at Arus's blue sky. Nyx moved carefully around him, lowering her head occasionally to look at all the tiny things on the ground. She would send him mental images of whatever she happened to be looking at, asking what it was.

'What's that?'

"That's a flower."

'What's _that?_ '

"That's a dead tree. All the bark rotted and fell off. That's why it looks different."

'Okay… what's that?' she jokingly sent him an image of himself.

"Okay, you got me on that one. I have no idea what that is."

Her amusement was forgotten when she spotted something else.

'And that?'

"That's also a flower."

'But it looks different from the first one!'

"Well that's because it's a different kind of flower."

'Do you know their names?'

"No," Shiro said, shaking his head a little. "Sorry. The flowers I know best are on my home planet."

'Does your planet have a lot of flowers?'

"Yes, it does," he said, picturing the many gardens he'd seen on Earth. "You couldn't walk down the street without seeing at least fifty different types of flowers."

'...I like flowers,' Nyx decided.

Shiro smiled. "Yeah, they sure are pretty."

'Pretty.'

Shiro could feel her filing the word away for future use. "Do you want me to teach you some more words?"

The world shook as Nyx came back to him. She towered over him, eyes gleaming with an eager light.

"I'll take that as a yes," Shiro said with a chuckle.

They returned to the Castle of Lions in the late afternoon, just before the festivities started. He still wasn't looking forward to the party, but he figured this would not be the only time this kind of thing happened. As they garnered support and allies against the galra, celebrations like these would play a key part in public relations, and solidifying friendships.

But… Did they really have to leave the front gate open?

His first impression of the natives was that they were tiny. They seemed like a bunch of little kids, bursting with uncontrolled emotions and impulses. It was really adorable, and exhausting.

Shiro stood vigilantly near the wide open door, watching the passerby.

Coran emerged from the chaos, heading towards him, no doubt to check up on how he was doing.

"Still not feeling well?" the altean inquired, swirling the purple drink in his cup. "Try some Nunvill. Settles the stomach and brightens your smile."

Shiro knew better than to take him up on his offer. The ancient paladin lunch was not the only strike on Coran's record at this point.

"I'm not sure we should be letting everyone wander in and out of the Castle like this," Shiro said, getting to the point. "It doesn't seem safe."

"Oh, these Arusians won't hurt anything-" Coran started, but was interrupted by a pair of the tiny natives passing by. "... Much."

The creatures were dangling precariously from a wobbling hover tray that they were using as a ride. The tray gave out and hit the ground with a crash. Coran cringed at the broken dinner wear.

"Besides, it's only fair to let them see the inside of a Castle that's been sitting on their planet for so long," the altean said.

Shiro could understand the sentiment, however that did not mean it was safe.

"But who knows when Zarkon will attack again?" the black paladin said. "I'm going to do a perimeter check, just in case."

Shiro stepped into the cool night air, feeling a little regret at possibly souring the mood. At the same time though, a little bit of vigilance could make the difference. Just because it was a party did not mean they could just drop everything.

The night seemed calm enough, but there was a prickling feeling in the center of his back that he just could not ignore. He felt like he was being watched. No matter how hard he listened, no matter how hard he looked, Shiro could not find whatever was bothering him. After a while, he decided to go back inside.

Keith joined him, looking relieved to see a familiar face. It looked like the kid was hitting his limits as an introvert. Shiro could sympathise. Hunk was also hovering nearby, but Lance was nowhere in sight.

"Shiro!" Pidge called, jogging up to them, a worried looking Allura close behind her. She had a serious look on her face, one that was becoming familiar. It was in the way her eyes narrowed, and the stiffness in her jaw. Pidge had come to a decision, and neither hell nor high water was going to stop her.

"What is it?" he asked as she came to a halt, rover floated past them, on its way into the castle.

"I need to tell you something," she said, mentally preparing herself to share whatever was on her mind. "I'm leaving the team. I need to go find my father and brother."

Shiro's heart leapt into his throat. The universe was a dangerous place for a little girl, and the thought of her out there, by herself made his blood run cold. It was already bad enough that she was here.

"Pidge, no!" he said, before he could remind himself that the choice was ultimately hers.

She looked down, unable to look him in the eye. "The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search," she said. "I have a pod all ready to go."

"You can't leave!" Keith said getting into her face.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Pidge said back, unflinching.

"If you leave, we can't form Voltron," Keith said, trying to lay out the big picture for her. "And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family. _All these Arusians_ have families. _Everyone_ in the universe has families."

"Yeah, I have a family," Hunk said, but Shiro didn't think he was backing Keith up with this point.

"They live on Earth," the kid said. "I want to be with them. Is that-. Is that, like, a thing that can happen?"

 _There it is_ , Shiro thought. It was a bit disheartening to know that Hunk felt trapped here. And, as someone who had been dragged unwillingly across the universe, the black paladin could sympathise.

"You want to leave, too?" Allura said, starting to get flustered.

"Of course I do!" Hunk said. "Look, Voltron is super-cool, don't get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space fighting aliens."

Keith's temper boiled over. He took a couple of steps forward, looming over Pidge as he shouted in her face.

"You're putting the lives of _two people_ over the lives of _everyone else in the entire galaxy-!"_

That was enough. Shiro reached out and caught his red paladin by the arm.

"Keith!" Shiro said sharply. "That's not how a team works. People have to _want_ to be a part of it. They can't be forced."

Keith was clearly still angry, but he lowered his head, backing off.

Shiro turned to his green paladin.

"If you want to leave," he said gently. "We won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing."

The last thing he wanted to do was spell out how dangerous it was out there. She knew it all too well, and her father and brother were out in it at this very moment. He could understand her need to get out there and find them. It was also tearing her up inside to do this.

"I'm sorry," she said, head hanging. "You're going to have to find someone else to pilot the Green Lion."

"I can't believe it," Allura said sadly, hands clasped over her chest. "This team is falling apart. How will we ever form Voltron?"

Pidge hadn't taken five steps when there was a sound like a cannon going off behind them. The castle shook with the force of what could only have been an explosion. She turned back to look at them, face showing the same alarm that Shiro was currently feeling.

'Shiro?' Nyx called in alarm.

'I'm okay,' Shiro sent back. 'I'm just not sure what's going on.'

The Arusians were screaming, fleeing from the castle in droves. At least they wouldn't have to worry about calling an evacuation.

"What was _that?"_ Keith said turning to look where the sound had come from, just as the entire castle went dark.

"The Balmera crystal!" Allura said fearfully and started running further into the castle.

The door to that chamber was hanging open, thick clouds of smoke billowing out in a steady stream. Coran was on his stomach, arms over his head, like he'd been thrown there. The altean groaned and pushed himself up, coughing a little as he seated himself upright.

Shiro gently grabbed his shoulders, ready to help him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Coran said sounding a little dazed.

The smoke began to clear, revealing the large blue crystal that powered the ship. It was hopelessly smashed. No single piece was bigger than about the size of a basketball.

"The crystal," Allura gasped in alarm, taking a few steps forward and caught sight of the blue paladin. "Lance!"

Shiro hurried forward. The kid was crumpled on his side, lying very still, armor scorched and smoking in some places. It looked like he'd been sucked back into the blast. The black paladin's heart was in his throat as he lifted the kid off the ground.

"Lance?" he called. "Lance!"

There were some nasty looking burns on Lance's face, and he wasn't waking up. The blue paladin made a low sound of utter misery that had Shiro's heart clenching in pain and guilt.

"We have to get Lance to the infirmary!" Pidge said.

"Without the Crystal, the Castle has no power," Allura said, sounding a little panicked.

So, without this stupidly important crystal, they were sunk. No power, no defences, no healing pods.

"He doesn't look good," Shiro said grimly.

There was no way around it, Lance needed medical attention, more than they could provide with simple first aid.

Just then, the arusian king came running into the room, looking terrified and out of breath. "Lion warriors," he called. "Our village is under attack! We need help!"

"Let's get to the Lions!" Keith said.

"You can't. They're sealed in their hangars," Allura said hopelessly, confirming what Shiro had already guessed. "There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless!"

"Will you not help us?" the king asked, eyes going wide with panic.

Keith was quick to try to reassure the little king. "We'll help you," he said a little hesitantly. "We just-."

He was interrupted by another quiet, pained moan from Lance. Shiro gently rubbed the kid's arm, trying to give him what comfort he could.

"This is bad," Hunk said, he had Coran's arm slung over his shoulder, supporting the altean. Shiro could see the panic beginning to rise.

"We have to get a new crystal to get the Castle working again," Coran said, pulling away to stand on his own. He started outlining their most immediate concerns. "But, to get a new crystal, we need a ship."

"The pod I was loading!" Pidge volunteered with new hope in her voice. "We can use that! I left the bay door open."

"I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there's a Balmera nearby," Coran said, tone growing more confident. "Hunk, you come with me. I'll need someone big to help me carry the Crystal."

"A Balmera?" Hunk asked.

"It's where the Crystals come from," Coran said, already turning to go. "I'll tell you about it on the way!"

Pidge and Hunk followed him to go prep the pod for flight.

"I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village," Keith said, and Allura nodded.

"I'll go with you, Keith," she said, sounding contrite. "I brought this on the poor Arusians."

That left the black paladin by himself with a very injured kid, the only one left to hold down the fort. He wasn't happy about it, but he didn't see any alternatives. If only the lions weren't stuck in their hangars.

'I'm too big,' Nyx pouted regretfully.

'Not your fault, Nyx,' Shiro reminded her.

"I'll tend to Lance and stand watch over the Castle," he said. Leaving the castle unattended with all the doors stuck open wide would be the last nail in the coffin of their mistakes.

He looked down at his blue paladin as the others took off. There wasn't much he could actually do for the poor kid until the power was restored. This whole situation was unacceptable. If they were to fight Zarkon, they were going to have to be able to take a few hits and not fall apart.

Well, he needed to be able to watch the kid and guard the castle at the same time.

"Sorry kiddo," Shiro said, hoisting Lance up over his shoulder as gently as he could. He stood up, and carefully started making his way over to the entrance of the castle. There was no doubt in his mind that there was going to be an attack. Shiro could only hope that he would be enough.

"Hang on, buddy," Shiro said, as he walked. "Help is on the way."

They made it to the entrance hall of the castle. Shiro looked up and froze. Advancing up to the doorway were a group of sentry machines, and they were being lead by two galra soldiers that Shiro recognized at once. He had to beat back the fear he felt on seeing that glowing artificial eye. The galra officer was also missing an arm, but it had been replaced with a weapon.

Shiro took a couple of steps back as they advanced. "Sendak!" he said angrily.

Of all the galra soldiers who had to survive the burning wreck of that warship, it _had_ to be that cockroach and his right hand toadie. Shiro quickly and gently laid the kid down on a bench off to the side, where he'd be out of the range of the upcoming scuffle.

'Stay strong, Shiro,' Nyx said, sounding a little distracted. 'I'm coming. I will find a way!'

'It's alright, Nyx,' Shiro assured her as he advanced to meet his enemy. 'Just sit tight.'

The lone black paladin, and the galra forces stopped, facing each other at the entrance of the castle. Shiro stood his ground, shoulders hunched, arms at his side, but ready.

"Stand aside," Sendak commanded impassively.

Shiro had to remind himself that he wasn't a slave anymore. He crouched, raising his arms into a fighting stance.

"No!" Shiro said firmly, and weaponized his own arm with a thought. "You're not getting in."

"Yes, I am," Sendak quietly disagreed with him.

The galra pulled back with the black, clawed monstrosity attached to his shoulder, and attacked. The arm stretched out from his body supported by purple crackling energy.

Shiro had expected a punch, but Sendak grabbed his arm instead. The shock and alarm barely had time to register before he was pulled off his feet, and dragged out of the castle, slamming down with bruising force on the stone causeway.

Sendak let him go, and lifted the arm up high. Shiro barely had enough time to backflip out of the way of the next downward swing. He landed on his knees, and powered up his arm again. With his equilibrium back, Shiro charged with an angry yell. The bigger galra warrior held his place, only dodging as much as he needed to as Shiro danced and rolled around him. None of his swings were striking.

Sendak threw a punch and Shiro met it with his own mechanical arm. They stood still for a bit, locked together in a far more violent version of a fist pound, each pressing for some kind of an advantage.

"I see you spent some time with the Druids," Sendak commented lightly. "They do love to experiment."

Shiro struggled not to let his mind go back to those dark memories. Nyx sent him a wave of her fierce love, holding his head above the water, lifting him out. The other problem he faced was that his body was not up to this task. He was already drenched in sweat, and his breaths were coming hard and fast.

"Too bad you didn't get the latest model," Sendak said. The purple energy flared as the arm suddenly extended with the force of a freight train.

Shiro shouted as he was thrown back several feet, hitting the ground in a tumble he only just barely controlled. By the time he got his feet under himself again, Sendak's arm was already coming for him. He dodged the crushing blow and realized that Sendak was following through by using the arm to reel his body across the distance. Shiro decided to use the galra's own speed and weight against him.

As Sendak came flying in, Shiro backed off and caught him by his flesh arm, with one hand on the other's waist. The black paladin easily hoisted his opponent up and over. Sendak hit the ground on his back, but was quickly recovering. Shiro rushed in to try to press his advantage. The two fighters ended up in a crouch, mechanical arms extended at each other's throats, hand's glowing purple and buzzing dangerously. Neither one of them were able to move an inch forward without risking death.

Shiro glared at Sendak, daring him to make a move, but looked away when the other galra spoke up.

"Let him go or your friend won't make it!"

Lance was tossed unmercifully onto the hard floor. There was no way Shiro could move fast enough to save the kid, and in his moment of hesitation, Sendak struck.

'Nyx!' Shiro called as that massive fist flew at him.

The blow connected with his face and chest, sending him flying. Shiro was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Nyx shook the castle with her roar when she felt Shiro's connection to her fail. Terror for her pilot coursed through her. She needed to get to him! She needed to be smaller, just like she could do with the form of her soul. There had to be a way!

The lion focused on her form willing it to shift and change. Surprise jerked her out of her concentration when her quintessence responded with a warm rush.

'I can do this!' Nyx thought elatedly. 'There is a way! Hold on Shiro! I'm coming!'


	7. 7 The Wrath of the Black Lion

This is a definite turning point in the story. There is going to be a lot more original content tucked away here and there now that one of the lions is... well... you'll see. One of my main concerns is staying true to the characters at this point. Let me know how I'm doing in the reviews!

I do not own Voltron.

Enjoy!

The Wrath of the Black Lion

(Tears of the Balmera)

It was overwhelming.

The whole world seemed bigger in a way that was dizzying. There was one other problem. Nyx had experienced smell before, distantly, and threw her link with Shiro who largely ignored the scents around him unless something stood out. Now those everyday smells assaulted her nose with far more strength, stinging her eyes and making them water.

She crouched, trying to block it out with her front legs pressed over her snout. It didn't help. Nyx came to the conclusion that she would just have to power through it. Using her front paw to scrub at her eyes one last time, the lioness steeled herself against the sensory overload and stood up.

The hangar had always felt like such a little place before. In this smaller form it took her a few seconds to cross the distance to the door into the castle. Her soft paws made no sound as she walked.

Nyx came to a sudden realization. In her larger form, her metal paws clanked and crashed wherever she stepped, the noise alone giving away her position. In this form, she made no noise, and, since the galra seemed to have an aversion to light, her dark form would melt into the shadows. Sendak wasn't going to know what hit him.

The lioness set off at a run, loping silently through the darkened halls.

Shiro woke up with a startle to Sendak's furious cussing. The black paladin, struggled onto his knees, breath hitching in panic as he felt his arms were cuffed behind his back. Worst of all, the place in the back of his mind that Nyx usually occupied was silent and empty.

Lance was on the floor at his side, and Shiro was a little relieved to see that he was in a recovery position. The kid was on his side, legs bent and relaxed. His breaths were still a little too shallow, but they were steady for now. They hadn't even bothered to cuff him.

"Haxus!" Sendak roared. "I want whoever's in this ship found and terminated!"

Shiro raised his head, desperate hope, flaring like pain through his heart.

"Commander Sendak," Haxus called from one of the consoles in the room. "I've received a transmission generating from somewhere inside."

Allura's voice played next, and Shiro realized with a sinking feeling that the galra even had access to the coms in their helmets.

"There's not much time before they get the ship running again," Allura was saying. "You must shut off the particle barrier so we can get in."

"You got it," Pidge said. "Tell me what to do."

Pidge! His green paladin was still inside the castle, and apparently causing the galra no end of grief. He was so proud of her, but part of him wanted her to just go hide and stay safe until he got an opportunity to break free. Unfortunately, his galra arm wasn't responding.

"The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull," Allura said.

"She's telling the intruder how to take down our defenses," Haxus reported, sounding incensed.

What? The people you just stomped on were trying to retake their ship? The gall! What upstarts!

'Did you really expect us to take this lying down?' Shiro thought.

"Yes, but she's also giving away his location," Sendak said. "Find that room. Kill the paladin. Repair the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron. This ship will rise before day's end."

The sentry machines marched away in unison.

A lovely chill settled on Shiro's heart at that command. Pidge would have to stay one step ahead of them, but there was no way he could warn her. He would just have to bide his time.

"Commander," Haxus said suddenly. "One more thing. The Black Lion has disappeared from its hangar."

Shiro almost gave himself whiplash as he jerked his head up to look at Sendak's toadie. Nyx was gone?

"What!" Sendak said, pulling up the feed on the largest hangar bay. Shiro could see it from where he knelt.

Sure enough, it was empty.

Sendak turned, his gaze falling on Shiro, and he glared. "I know this is your doing."

Shiro couldn't help the amused smile that pulled at his face. "Actually, I'm as surprised as you are," he said.

Sendak stepped off the raised platform and approached.

"What?" Shiro said. "She's never done that before!"

He knew he was going to pay for that anyway.

Sendak raised his flesh arm and backhanded him across the face, pain exploding in his head. Shiro's training kicked in, and he moved with the blow, reducing the damage done. He landed on his side, but the galra officer wasn't done with him.

Shiro felt his hand close around his throat with bruising force, cutting off his air. Sendak hoisted him off the ground. Panic had him lashing out and kicking, as he pulled against his cuffs.

Shiro barely heard him over the blood roaring in his head.

"Your insolence will be the death of you one of these days, Champion," Sendak said. "But not today. Haggar was insistent that I should bring you back alive, if at all possible. It seems she misses you. You should be honored."

Sendak's hand finally loosened, and Shiro fell to the floor, legs collapsing beneath him as he hit the ground. The black paladin lay on his side, gasping and choking on his bruised throat. It was a struggle, but Shiro got himself back up onto his knees just in time to see Haxus setting off to repair the damage to the engines.

Sendak continued to prowl impatiently around the crystal chamber, checking various consoles and taking a moment to bring up the camera feeds around the castle. He spotted Pidge once, scraping off two of the sentry bots in the training deck. Sendak lost her when she disappeared into a maintenance hatch. The galra officer gave up for the moment and came to stand over the two paladin's for a moment.

"I must admit," Sendak said. "Your paladins are brave to have caused me this much trouble in a moment of victory."

"Who said you've won?" Shiro asked. "We won't stop until we have our ship back. We won't stop until Zarkon is dead, and his empire is in shambles!"

Sendak backhanded him again, and Shiro hit the ground on his back. The galra warrior advanced, lashing out with his foot, connecting with the black paladin's ribs.

Shiro gasped as the air was driven from his lungs, and he was pretty sure he heard something snap. The muscles in his side were on fire, protesting against the abuse. Sendak looked like he wanted to do more, but an alert had him turning back to his console. Shiro taught himself how to breath again, before getting back up onto his knees, struggling against his aching body. It was getting difficult to catch his breath.

"Haxus," Sendak said.

"I've repaired the damage to the engines," Haxus reported.

Well that was fast.

"Powering sub panels."

Sendak quickly walked over to a different console, and checked something there.

"Sub panel energy transducer is go," Sendak reported back.

"Aye, sir," Haxus responded. "Opening pathway to link with bridge. Initializing main cluster reboot."

Shiro's heart dropped into his stomach. These reports were sounding far too positive. They'd be up in the air in no time.

"Initializing complete," Haxus reported after a bit. "I'm set for main power up."

"The bridge is go," Sendak said.

"Powering up."

Shiro looked around, there had to be something he could do to stop this!

"Sir, something is wrong," Haxus suddenly said, and there was an actual note of apprehension in the galra's tone. He screamed, and then communications were forcefully cut.

Shiro heaved a sigh of relief. Sendak, however, was cursing up a storm as he hastily tried to reestablish communications with the engine room.

"Haxus, come in," Sendak said. There was nothing.

The officer slammed his fist down on a surface and then pressed a few more buttons.

"Haxus, report in."

"Haxus is gone," Pidge answered, shouting angrily. "And you're next!"

Shiro would have been proud of her if he could get over the icy fear in his heart at the thought of Sendak getting his claws on her

"You've slowed me down," Sendak admitted, a note of respect in his tone. "But this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!"

"Never!" came Pidge's defiant response.

Shiro watched Sendak's eyes narrow dangerously as he stepped away from the console toward his prisoners.

If either of them had been watching the camera feed or even the door in that moment, they might have actually spotted the large dark shadow that wound silently around the door frame, into the room. It melted into the shadows in the corner, completely unnoticed.

"Well, then," Sendak said, almost as if he was talking to an errant child. "Maybe your leader can convince you."

"What do you want?" Shiro demanded, as Sendak circled around behind him, making the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

"Your friend wanted to hear from you," Sendak said casually, as he took two more steps forward.

"Shiro?" Pidge asked, voice turing softer with concern and uncertainty.

All at once, Shiro understood what was about to happen, and sure enough, Sendak activated his mechanical arm. It crackled with purple lightning.

Shiro turned away, heart racing as his body tried to prepare itself for pain. "Pidge?" he said urgently. "Pidge, don't listen to-!"

The words were cut off as Sendak's metal hand descended on his left shoulder. There was no steeling himself against the agony that coursed through his body. Shiro had been electrocuted before. This didn't even compare. All the muscles in his body tightened convulsively as all his nerve endings screamed with fiery pain.

He saw the world through a haze of red, and he was distantly aware of the agonized screams tearing themselves from his throat. All control was stripped away, and he couldn't even think about trying to muffle the sound of his pain. It was a relief when the world went dark once again.

Nyx's tail lashed as her eyes bored into the back of Sendak's head. This galra would die screaming for his actions here today. His blood would stain her claws, but right now, she didn't stand a chance against him. She knew the paladin's wore armor for a reason. Sendak's weapons would burn right through her fur. The others needed to get into the castle first.

"No!" she heard the green paladin's cry

"You can make it stop," Sendak offered. "Turn yourself in. His suffering is in your hands."

Nyx's tail gave another angry lash as her claws unsheathed themselves on the ground. The lioness desperately tried to curb her desire to have Sendak's throat between her teeth. Now was not the time.

Sendak strode away from the two unconscious paladins and checked the consoles one more time. Slamming his fists down on the stands as he discovered that once again, the castle was grounded, and wouldn't be moving any time soon. He walked back to stand over her paladin.

"I remember when I first found you," Sendak said. "If anyone had told me you'd soon earn the title 'Champion,' I would have laughed in their faces before killing them."

He paused and grabbed Shiro's face.

Nyx tensed up, ready to spring, but the galra merely lifted Shiro's head to look him in the face.

His eyes were closed, but Shiro still looked like he was in pain, the skin around his eyes tense, brows drawn together.

"I thought then that you looked weak," Sendak continued. "But you have continued to surprise me. You are by far, one of the strongest fighters to ever be thrown into the gladiatorial games."

Sendak let go, and Shiro's head fell back down against his chest.

"I'm impressed that you managed to escape," Sendak said. "Perhaps it would be worth the trip to your planet to see if the rest of your kind have your spirit. Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you. Now that we have Voltron, every planet, every race, all share the same fate."

Nyx almost gave herself away by growling. It was very important to Shiro that the galra never had the chance to reach Earth. She too wanted a chance to see her pilot's home, unmarred by the fires of war. Her claws itched with the need to sink into the galra's flesh.

Eventually Sendak went back to monitoring the castle, probably to see if he could do anything to get the castle moving from the room they were in. He saw something that displeased him, but had no time to rant about it, because seconds later, the green paladin appeared in the camera feed from the chamber door.

Sendak whirled around and attacked with his mechanical arm, giving chase when she dodged and got away.

Nyx almost broke cover to go to her paladin, but then only seconds later, Pidge was back. She ran straight to Shiro.

"Shiro, wake up," she said urgently, and he began to stir. She did not see Sendak coming in behind her. "It's me, Pidge! Ah!"

Sendak took her by surprise, grabbing her by the shoulders with the mechanical arm and reeling her back in. Pidge hung there, trembling in pain as he squeezed her harshly.

"You really thought your little hologram trick would work with me?" Sendak taunted her.

Nyx was very glad to see Keith and Allura come running into the room. Keith activated his bayard, the sword forming with a ring of metal. She also watched as the blue paladin woke up after all this time. He quietly activated his own bayard and took aim at Sendak's back.

Nyx crept forward, fur standing on end, teeth bared in a silent snarl. Her opportunity was near.

"Stand back," Sendak said. It sounded more like a command than a warming.

Just then, Lance fired his shot. It nailed Sendak in the square of his back and he stumbled forward, Pidge thrown from his grasp. She tumbled out of his immediate range. Nyx bolted forward, entering the fray with a sound like ripping cardboard. She made a powerful leap with her back legs, front legs reaching out for Sendak, lethal claws unsheathed and ready.

She saw Sendak's eyes widen in reflex fear, just before she crashed into him, jaws heading for his throat. Her claws grasped at the back of his armor, but it was completely smooth. Her teeth found purple fur, and she bit down hard but it was not the killing bite she'd wanted.

His mechanical arm closed on her shoulders, and he pulled her off of him, flinging her away. Nyx twisted herself in mid air, landing on her feet, just in time to see Shiro get swatted aside. Keith attacked finally, exchanging a few blows between sword and metal arm before Sendak got a hold of him and sent the kid flying as well.

Nyx ran forward again, but Pidge beat her. The girl took a swing with her bayard at the purple energy while it was still extended. It cut right through, and the mechanizm died with a descending hum.

"No!" Sendak shouted.

Nyx pounced again, managing to get her fangs around his skull, but he quickly shook her off, and advanced on Pidge, kicking the girl's energy shield with teeth rattling force. Her shield failed, and she was thrown, but in a moment of quick thinking or reflex, she shot the line from her bayard and it curled around Sendak's leg.

The lioness didn't dare attack, because suddenly the galra officer was crackling with green lightning.

'Now you know what it feels like!' she thought and roared.

Keith had recovered by then and charged in with his sword. Beyond all the odds, and still surging with green energy, Sendak saw it coming and caught the blade bare handed. Nyx hesitated. The two were losing control, but if she attacked, she would be injured. She decided to stand back and wait for an opening.

"Keith, now!" Allura shouted, and Nyx almost jumped in surprise. The lioness had lost track of the altean during the fight.

Keith jumped, planting his feet on Sendak's chest and used the galra soldier as a springboard.

Sendak lost his footing and fell back, just as Allura activated a barrier, trapping him in a cylinder of blue light. Sendak punched at the barrier, but found it would not break, and gave up. Nyx launched herself at the barrier, striking it with a paw and roaring in Sendak's face, but he didn't react.

The lioness turned away in disgust, anger unassuaged, and found everybody except for Lance staring at her.

She was bigger than the average she lion, standing at four feet at the shoulders. Her body was ten feet of lithe muscle and strong bones from nose to butt, and her tail added another three feet of length. Midnight black fur covered her from head to toe, and she could have been mistaken for a black panther, but her features gave her away.

"Nyx?" Shiro asked quietly, expression bewildered, eyes wide and vulnerable.

She padded quietly over to him, heart softening. Her paladin was injured.

"Shiro don't move!" Allura warned him. "Don't-!"

Nyx ignored her and gently nuzzled Shiro's cheek. Her pilot reached out to her with his mind, and she gently embraced the connection, bracing herself as his raw emotions washed over her. His heart was in bad shape. Sendak's abuse had torn open his soul again, and she poured her love into him, softening the jagged emotions that bled out of him.

"I didn't know the lions could _do_ that!" Keith exclaimed. "That _is_ Nyx right?"

"Yeah," Shiro said, sounding a little muffled from where he had his face buried in the fur of his cat's neck.

Allura's eyes widened with realization. "Are you saying that's the black lion?"

"You didn't know she could do that either?" Pidge asked.

Allura hesitated, glancing at Sendak who was listening intently. "Let's get him contained first," she said. "Then we'll discuss this."

After Sendak was secured in a cryo pod, Pidge approached Shiro quietly and used her bayard to melt through the cuffs. The black paladin gave a quiet sigh of relief as he moved his shoulders into a more natural position. It ached, but this was the good sort of pain.

A little ways away, Keith was checking on Lance. The blue paladin was awake. The poor kid was in a lot of pain, but he was awake, which was a very good sign. He was a little too weak to move around on his own though. Keith looked quite willing to give him a hand.

Nyx gave a worried rumble when his stretch pulled painfully at his ribs and he had to stop.

"I'm okay," he said, and rubbed her shoulder.

Nyx's head jerked upward and she stared at his hand.

Shiro stopped. "Nyx?"

'That felt really nice,' she said. 'Do that again?'

He hesitantly reached for her shoulder again, gently carding his fingers through her inky black fur. The lion's eyes drifted closed. It looked like she was smiling. Shiro had a sudden epiphany.

"This is the first time anyone has ever pet you like this," he said. "Isn't it?"

Nyx's eyes opened. 'Yes,' she said. 'All of my senses are new. Only sight and hearing have any familiarity. It's a bit overwhelming, especially smell.'

Nyx opened her mouth a little, and her eyes began to scrunch closed. Her whole body gave a sudden jerk as she sneezed. The lioness whipped her head up to look at Shiro wide eyed.

'What was _that?_ '

Shiro couldn't keep himself from laughing a little, even though it hurt. He explained the mechanics of the sneeze to her until Allura got back.

The princess approached the black lion with wonder in her eyes. "How is this possible?" she asked. "An event like this is completely unprecedented."

'My paladin needed me,' she said. 'I'm not too big anymore!'

"That doesn't really explain _how_ you did it though," Shiro said.

Nyx seemed to give it a little more thought. 'I needed this to happen,' she said. 'So it did.'

Shiro forwarded her words to the others with a shrug. "So she doesn't really understand the how, but it works."

"Guys!" Keith interrupted. "The castle has power like this for now, right?"

"Not that I trust it," Allura said. "But yes."

"Lance needs medical attention," Keith said seriously. "Now!"

Shiro's lips tightened as he looked the kid over. The blue paladin's shoulders were tense with pain, and his eyes were glassy with shock.

"He's right," Shiro said, hoisting himself to his feet with a groan. "We can't wait for Hunk and Coran. We'll have to make do with what we've got."

He started to reach for Lance, but Keith shook his head. "Don't think I haven't notice the way you've been favoring your ribs," the red paladin said. "I've got Lance."

The party made their way to the infirmary, and Lance was tucked safely into a healing pod.

"After a day in here, he should be fully healed," Allura said, still looking a bit worried.

Shiro nodded. It was going to be a bit difficult to shake the image of Lance on the ground, trembling with pain, but the kid really would be okay. Now there was the second lion in the room that needed to be addressed.

"Pidge," Shiro said gently. "We can't thank you enough for all you did, delaying your departure to help us out and everything. I can't help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team... but I understand if you still want to leave."

Pidge's expression turned sad, in a thoughtful kind of way. "Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members," she said quietly. "They were like family."

Shiro smiled. Sam thought of him as family? That was… that was really nice.

"Now I understand what he was talking about," Pidge said. "I still really need to get out there, and find my father and Matt, but… I think I'm starting to understand how dangerous it is out here. This isn't something I'll be able to pull off by myself, not this time. I need people who'll have my back. So... I'm staying with you guys. Let's stop Zarkon for all of our families."

"Good to have you back on the team," Keith said gently, and Pidge smiled at him.

It seemed that all was forgiven.

Allura sighed, then focused her attention on Shiro who suddenly felt the need to go hide somewhere. He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting away from hers.

"I'm sorry I let Sendak get past me," he said.

"You didn't _let_ Sendak do anything," Allura said, cutting him off. "Pidge told me what happened. You were outnumbered, six to one. You're not solely responsible for the defense of the castle. We played right into their hands, allowing them to split us up like they did. The 'attack' on the Arusian's village was merely a ploy."

"I saw you take a pretty good hit back there," Pidge said. "I think it would be a good idea to make sure you don't have a concussion."

"He was holding his ribs earlier," Keith added.

Shiro put his head into his hand. "Who's side are you on?" he asked. "I'm perfectly fine."

"I also heard you screaming over the coms," Pidge said tapping her forefingers together nervously.

"Why were you screaming?" Allura asked.

Shiro looked around at all the concerned faces watching him and sighed, smiling a little and shaking his head. Even Nyx, who was wound around his legs, was looking up at him expectantly. They all just needed to see for themselves that he was okay, especially Pidge.

'I can feel your pain, my paladin,' she said. 'Let them help you.'

"I'm just fine," he said. "But I'll let you check if it will make you feel better."

"Good," Allura said, pulling up a seat. "Why don't you sit down and tell us what happened?"

"I am pretty bruised up," Shiro admitted, sitting down with a sigh of relief. Nyx lay down behind him, curled around so she could prop her head up on his lap.

He gave them a quick recap on his injuries. Nyx had to remind him to mention how Sendak had picked him up by his neck.

Allura nodded. "Alright," she said. "I'm afraid the shirt needs to come off. I need to check your ribs. If they are broken, I'll be insisting on you going into a pod as well. With our current situation, we can't risk you getting a punctured lung or worse."

Shiro nodded in resignation and started stripping out of his armor. He didn't want the kids seeing his scars, but there was no sending them out for this.

"Hey, um," he started a little hesitantly. "I'm pretty scarred up. Some of it's gotta look pretty bad. I just… don't want it to take you by surprise."

Shiro took a breath and stripped off the last layer of cloth. He could feel both Keith and Pidge tracing his scars with their eyes, but he did his best to ignore it. Nyx gave a reassuring rumble, rubbing her head against his knee.

Allura didn't need to ask which side got kicked. His left side was already blossoming with color. The princess slipped some gloves onto her hands and approached him.

"May I?" she asked, her hands hovering over his shoulder.

Shiro nodded.

She lay her hands gently on his shoulder, asking him to move it in a rolling motion. It hurt, but he complied.

"That feels fine," she reported. "Next, I'm going to run my hand down your back to make sure all of your ribs are still in place. It may hurt a little."

Shiro only nodded. He couldn't decide whether he was okay with Allura's poking and prodding or not. She wouldn't find any dislocated ribs, but he let her check anyway.

"This is the hard part," she said when she finished. "I need to trace your ribs to make sure there aren't any breaks."

He obliged her by moving his arm out of her way. Starting on his back, Allura traced her fingers along the curve of ribs, moving around his side towards his front.

It hurt.

Nyx got up and moved to stand in front of him. She braced her front paws on the chair on either side of him so she was looking him in the eye. Then she bowed her head a little and bumped foreheads with him. Shiro pressed against her gratefully as Allura's fingers continued to unleash agony in his side.

After an eternity, Allura finally stopped. "I think you're in the clear," she said. "It feels like there might be a slight fracture, but it's hard to say with all the swelling. One thing to say for sure though, we should definitely wrap them."

They insisted on doing a few basic tests for concussion, but he showed no sign of it, so after getting his ribs wrapped tightly in bandages, he was allowed to go.

"Now what?" he asked Nyx as she padded quietly along beside him.

'It's late,' she said. 'Sleep.'

"Sound's good to me."

They stole a mattress from one of the guest bedrooms, and Shiro slept in his own room for the first time in three days, but this time, he had Nyx. The lioness was stretched out on her side on the bed by the time Shiro was in his pajamas. She welcomed him, lifting a foreleg and gently pulling him in close to her belly as she curled around him. It was so comfortable and warm that he fell asleep instantly.


	8. 8 Standing Up

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out! Between work and battling illness (I'm okay! I'm not about to die!) its been hard to get a word down. Plus this chapter was just difficult for some reason. I'm not going to publish anything I had to force out. Please let me know if I strayed from the characters!

 _Shiro did his best to keep his expression blank as he looked up at Sendak. There wasn't a lot he could do with his arms bound behind his back. He also couldn't take the chance that they might hurt Lance to keep him under control._

" _Haggar missed you Champion," Sendak said. "You should be honored."_

" _There is no honor to be had in torture," Shiro said. "I think you need to check your priorities, or does Zarkon do all your thinking for you?"_

" _Your insolence will be the death of you some day," Sendak said with an amused smirk. "But, I suppose that will be decided in your next gladiator fight."_

 _The sudden roar of the blood thirsty crowds had him looking frantically over his shoulder. The all too familiar view of the ring greeted him through the bars of the gate, and Shiro's blood ran cold. Not another fight! Who (or what) were they going to throw at him this time? An innocent? A monster? A child?_

 _Nyx's roar cut through his dream like ice water down his back. She seemed to just materialize in front of Sendak, who looked at her in stupid shock. The lioness leaped at the galra, and sank her fangs into his throat, ripping her head savagely to the side. Sendak's hulking form burst into a shower of black sand with a choked cry._

 _The dreamscape melted away, leaving them alone in the peace of the astral plane. Shiro sighed, the tension dropping out of his shoulders as he realized that he was safe._

" _Good timing, Nyx," he said. "But was that really necessary?"_

" _What in particular?" she asked, head tilting as she looked at him._

" _Tearing Sendak's throat out?"_

 _The lioness sat down, tail curling around her as she groomed one of her front paws. "Yes it was," she said with fierce satisfaction. "I've been wanting to do that since the first time he came up in your memories, besides it's crath- cathra-"_

" _Cathartic?" Shiro supplied._

" _That."_

 _Shiro couldn't help smiling even though he felt like he should disapprove._

" _I don't think having dreams of seeing my tormentor's throats get torn out is a good method of healing," he argued._

" _It works for me," Nyx said, and her golden eyes gleamed with what could only have been amusement._

 _Shiro snorted and shook his head, closing the distance between them. Nyx leaned into his hug with a happy purr._

" _I can't thank you enough for what you did today," Shiro said, on a more serious note. "Did you have any idea you could transform like that before?"_

" _None," Nyx confirmed._

 _Shiro sat down next to her, absently petting her soft fur. "So, would the others be capable of the same thing?" he asked._

" _Not that I know of," Nyx said, pausing her grooming._

 _Shiro could almost feel the endless possibilities running through her head._

" _I think I would like it, if they could," the lioness said._

 _The black paladin nodded. "I think it's time we take a more active approach to getting the others to bond with their lions," he said. "The only thing is… I don't know where to start."_

 _Nyx flopped over and rolled onto her back, looking him in the eyes from her upside down position._

" _I think I may be able to help you there," she said. "Our armored bodies are good for battle, but not so much for cuddling. I think our bond truly started to grow when I took this shape. I saw the lioness you visualized for me and I liked it."_

" _That could be the first step," Shiro said, nodding thoughtfully. "We'll have to tell the others in the morning."_

 _The black paladin flopped down next to his lion, and stared up at the stars. It was only then that he realized there wasn't a single constellation he recognized, and it made him homesick._

 _Nyx nosed him gently. "You are sad," she said._

" _I miss my home," Shiro said, giving her a brief sad smile._ _"_ _None of these stars look familiar."_

 _Nyx rumbled comfortingly and stretched out one of her massive paws towards the sky. "I like to find shapes up there sometimes," she said. "It was one of the only things to do when I was alone."_

 _Shiro smiled. "They're called constellations," he said. "People sometimes make up stories to go with them."_

 _Nyx, snuggled closer to her paladin. "What kind of stories?" she asked._

" _All kinds of stories," Shiro said. "Gods and monsters and heroes… Would you like me to tell them to you?"_

" _Yes, please!"_

 _Shiro chuckled. This dreamscape gave a whole new meaning to 'bedtime story.'_

" _Alright," he said. "My memory is a little rusty though. Hmm, where to start."_

 _He was quiet for a bit, considering the different constellations that he knew. Orion was one of the most prominent in his memory._

" _I've got one," he said. "But I think I'd better tell you about the ancient greek pantheon first…"_


End file.
